Durham: Week 5
Don't like change:
Most people who know me will know that one of my favourite sayings is 'Don't like change'. It's true, I can be a bit stubborn and set in my ways (I am just one year away from a pipe - I already have the slippers), so it may be a bit of a surprise to know that I am going to change the format of my blog this week. Rather than wittily (I wish)) titled sections, I am going to do it on a day by day basis. Since I arrived on the Sunday rather than my usual Monday, I shall start from there.
Sunday:
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| View from mine and Peter's patio in Durham |
Apparently they have 10 cars stored like that. One on top of another. It was the weirdest thing and it would take about 6 or 7 minutes to get your car back, but at least I didn't have to look at the damage for the week……
After settling in, it was about 9pm, so I did the only thing one can do. Opened a beer and put the telly on.
Monday:
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| Lads party night |
The girls, Carolin, Lizzie and Selma were all staying together a little way out of Durham, whilst Lucy, Sinead, James, Sam and Malcolm stayed in Durham.
Tuesday:
This in touring theatre is what is generally known as a 'lazy day'. If you're on the crew then you're generally a bit knackered from the previous day's get-in and (after a few beers the night before), a long lie in is definitely in order. It's not unusual for a few cast to be called in a bit earlier the next day to run any bits that may have caused problems the night before - which can be an issue depending on a venue's size or how different it is to the previous week, but normally everyone will be on 'show call' which means that we just come in to do the show.
Out at Cliffe Hall, after a leisurely breakfast, GMoss and Jonny decided to use their spare time wisely at their country estate by exploring the grounds and learning a spot of fly fishing…..
While Simon decided to spend his day broadening his knowledge of the outside world:
Wednesday:
This was matinee day. It's not all sitting about reading high quality toilet paper when you're on tour, you know. Although we do get a few days a week where we don't have to work until about 6pm, we more than make up for this on get-in days, matinee days and on Saturdays. On a matinee day, we'll usually be in from about 1pm although Sinead is generally in much earlier, between 10 and 11am in fact, to make sure all the costumes are freshly laundered and ready for the cast to wear. We then work through until about 10:30pm with about an hour's dinner break. It was on this dinner break that I had my first ever experience of Nando's - I'm vegetarian so haven't really felt the need to go all out on a chicken restaurant, but Sam took me and some others along (George had in fact once worked in a Nando's - fun fact of the day 1.) and I found that they do quite a nice line in grilled halloumi. We did the show twice to very nice audiences and then went out for pre-Sam's birthday, birthday drinks. It was actually to be his birthday on the Friday, but as we had two shows and then a get-out on the Saturday it was decided to go out on the Wednesday so people could have a lie-in the next day. Sam found a nice bar where it was only £3 per cocktail and a late night was had by some (some of us older and more decrepit ones went home a bit earlier to get our beauty sleep). Jonny and George paid an extortionate amount of money (...cough, £70) for a cab back to Cliffe Hall and then couldn't get in the door so woke Alastair at 4am. Alastair was to have his revenge on George the following day though…...
Thursday:
Thursday would see another bit of free time in the day for some, for others of us we will be doing an understudy rehearsal in the afternoon. I'm not sure if I've mentioned understudies on my blog yet, but basically on this tour we have a system called 'moving up'. This is quite common on tours of this size. If a cast member in a certain part is off sick, then the person on the next part down will move up into that role. For example, if Carolin, who plays Isabelle was to be off, then Selma, who plays Lisette would move up into her part and Lucy, who plays Marguerite would move up to play Lisette. Marguerite would then become a butler and be played by Roger, our CSM.
Are you with me?
Yes?
Good.
So, other understudies on this tour are Sam (who plays Evans, understudies Arthur Shaw and Tipper), Simon (who plays Arthur Shaw, understudies Berard and if James who plays Berard were to be off, Simon would have the enviable task of play both Shaw and Berard - this is to minimise the chance of having Sam not playing Evans as he is our musician and singer in that part too), as mentioned before, Selma understudies Isabelle, Lucy understudies both Lisette and Jeanne, Jonny would cover Levi if Alastair was to be off for playing one of his understudy parts and Alastair….. are you ready for this? Ok…. Alastair understudies…. Deep breath:
Stephen, Firebrace, Evans, Azaire, Gray, Barclay, Orderly, Turner, Adams and Wheeler (!). I don't think I've missed one.
Anyway, we have weekly understudy rehearsals which usually last about 3 hours where we make sure everyone who is covering knows where to stand, move and what to do both on and off stage (as they have to cover all of their character's scene and costume changes too) as well as knowing their lines.
So that's how some of us spent our Thursday afternoon and then after an hour's dinner break it was back in to do the show. Which brings me to a small sub-heading:
A very nice man:
I don't think that well known breakdown service use that phrase in their adverts anymore (are we still on the John Cleese in a sleeping bag ones or have we moved on from them?) and I'm probably showing my age by quoting it, but there we go. You should by now know what I'm talking about and so you can guess what might have happened.
Anyone who has worked with Alastair will have experienced, in some way, his cars. I say cars in the plural as there have been several. All called Omm. I remember Omm 3. Omm 3 caused Charlie (who played Tipper/Gregoire on the 2013 tour) a lot of problems last year in Basingstoke and we never really saw it again after about February and no one is really sure what happened to it. Omm 4 appeared some time in the spring and has been with us ever since. So, Alastair was driving himself and George back to the country estate in Darlington when he realised there was a problem. The clutch had gone and Omm 4 stopped. And wouldn't restart.
And so it was time to call 'the very nice man' and get rescued. But the trouble was that 'the very nice man' took quite a while getting there and while Alastair seemed able to keep his spirits up, after about 2 hours, and bearing in mind that he had just spend the last 2 and a half hours on stage in a physically and mentally exhausting role, I think that maybe, just maybe, George had stopped seeing the funny side…..
Friday:
Friday was pretty much a recovery day from the night before. Alastair got together a recuse team (basically all the boys at Cliffe Hall) to go and tow Omm 4 to a garage where it could be repaired. GMoss has the most beautifully kept Jag you have ever seen, but as he was the only one with a tow bar, he had the job of towing the more unattractive Omm 4. He wisely didn't let Alastair steer behind him, but Simon did instead.
Otherwise we all got up to our own things and had a peaceful day looking around the beautiful city of Durham (our Associate Director, Charlotte Peters was a student here - fun fact of the day 2.). When we got to the theatre that evening, it was time to present Sam with his birthday presents. A ukelele signed by the whole company and an air hockey game. Later it was just a couple of birthday drinks in order due to the two shows the next day.
It was also time to celebrate the addition of another Alastair Whatley nickname. So far we have: Cuckoo, Bear, Goat, Betty Boop and Walrus (have you guessed who's who yet?). The previous evening Selma and I had given Alastair inspiration for the nickname 'The Woolf'. Answers on a postcard please, I'm not telling just yet!
Saturday:
Most of us were staying over in Durham on the Saturday night, which in itself is quite an unusual occurrence as most people (myself included) like to get home on a Saturday whenever possible, but with us being so far north, it wasn't really possible. A few people did brave the journey in a (hired and brand new) Fiat 500 Estate that Alastair had suddenly found that he needed (wonder why?) and apparently made quite good time. For all of us staying, Peter had had the quite brilliant idea of hosting a late night dinner party at our flat. Sinead and I joined after we had finished our parts of the get-out and got in to find Peter cooking up a storm of pasta, all with lashings of red and white wine. This was a really nice thing to do and I think as we look to venues like Dundee, Cork and Belfast, something we will find ourselves doing again. We still managed to have an early night though as some people had 8am trains the next day which would take them back to London and Kent. I, however, was going straight on to Birmingham, which leads me to my final heading….
Sunday:
I love a road trip and it was a beautiful day when I drove to Cliffe Hall to pick up Jonny for our journey to the West Midlands. As I drove up the drive to the main house, I really couldn't believe my eyes. I had heard that the house and grounds were nice, but this was something else entirely:
Jonny was off to slightly less attractive digs (Aston University Halls of Residence), as was I (Bull Ring Travelodge), but we made our merry way and Jonny had the added bonus that on the journey down we were able to listen to Liverpool thrash Man United at the football.
So, off to Birmingham and official press night……….
Must just add:
Two things here that I really must mention and neither of them really have anything to do with Birdsong, I'm afraid.
1. When Original Theatre stayed at Cliff's Hall with 'Three Men in a Boat', they made a film called 'Three Men Go Downton', a take on Downton Abbey. It's quite hysterical, so please do take a look at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4DEqPlFx2E
2. You may have seen the hype over the 'First Kiss' video that's been in the media. I haven't actually seen it, but know it's about what happens when people who've never met before are asked to kiss for the first time. Well, where I'm going with this, it that our 2013 Birdsong Tour's Jack Firebrace, Tim Treloar, has made a parody of it. And it's funny. Very funny. And Patrick Stewart apparently tweeted about it. So have a look at this too. Let's get him to 10,000 views.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=Fig7IQ4o9wA&app=desktop
Ta.
 |
| Breakfast at Cliffe Hall |
Out at Cliffe Hall, after a leisurely breakfast, GMoss and Jonny decided to use their spare time wisely at their country estate by exploring the grounds and learning a spot of fly fishing…..
 |
| Jonny learns how to cast off (or whatever it's called) |
 |
| 'What do you mean I'm not doing it right?!' |
While Simon decided to spend his day broadening his knowledge of the outside world:
Wednesday:
This was matinee day. It's not all sitting about reading high quality toilet paper when you're on tour, you know. Although we do get a few days a week where we don't have to work until about 6pm, we more than make up for this on get-in days, matinee days and on Saturdays. On a matinee day, we'll usually be in from about 1pm although Sinead is generally in much earlier, between 10 and 11am in fact, to make sure all the costumes are freshly laundered and ready for the cast to wear. We then work through until about 10:30pm with about an hour's dinner break. It was on this dinner break that I had my first ever experience of Nando's - I'm vegetarian so haven't really felt the need to go all out on a chicken restaurant, but Sam took me and some others along (George had in fact once worked in a Nando's - fun fact of the day 1.) and I found that they do quite a nice line in grilled halloumi. We did the show twice to very nice audiences and then went out for pre-Sam's birthday, birthday drinks. It was actually to be his birthday on the Friday, but as we had two shows and then a get-out on the Saturday it was decided to go out on the Wednesday so people could have a lie-in the next day. Sam found a nice bar where it was only £3 per cocktail and a late night was had by some (some of us older and more decrepit ones went home a bit earlier to get our beauty sleep). Jonny and George paid an extortionate amount of money (...cough, £70) for a cab back to Cliffe Hall and then couldn't get in the door so woke Alastair at 4am. Alastair was to have his revenge on George the following day though…...
Thursday:
Thursday would see another bit of free time in the day for some, for others of us we will be doing an understudy rehearsal in the afternoon. I'm not sure if I've mentioned understudies on my blog yet, but basically on this tour we have a system called 'moving up'. This is quite common on tours of this size. If a cast member in a certain part is off sick, then the person on the next part down will move up into that role. For example, if Carolin, who plays Isabelle was to be off, then Selma, who plays Lisette would move up into her part and Lucy, who plays Marguerite would move up to play Lisette. Marguerite would then become a butler and be played by Roger, our CSM.
Are you with me?
Yes?
Good.
So, other understudies on this tour are Sam (who plays Evans, understudies Arthur Shaw and Tipper), Simon (who plays Arthur Shaw, understudies Berard and if James who plays Berard were to be off, Simon would have the enviable task of play both Shaw and Berard - this is to minimise the chance of having Sam not playing Evans as he is our musician and singer in that part too), as mentioned before, Selma understudies Isabelle, Lucy understudies both Lisette and Jeanne, Jonny would cover Levi if Alastair was to be off for playing one of his understudy parts and Alastair….. are you ready for this? Ok…. Alastair understudies…. Deep breath:
Stephen, Firebrace, Evans, Azaire, Gray, Barclay, Orderly, Turner, Adams and Wheeler (!). I don't think I've missed one.
Anyway, we have weekly understudy rehearsals which usually last about 3 hours where we make sure everyone who is covering knows where to stand, move and what to do both on and off stage (as they have to cover all of their character's scene and costume changes too) as well as knowing their lines.
So that's how some of us spent our Thursday afternoon and then after an hour's dinner break it was back in to do the show. Which brings me to a small sub-heading:
A very nice man:
I don't think that well known breakdown service use that phrase in their adverts anymore (are we still on the John Cleese in a sleeping bag ones or have we moved on from them?) and I'm probably showing my age by quoting it, but there we go. You should by now know what I'm talking about and so you can guess what might have happened.
Anyone who has worked with Alastair will have experienced, in some way, his cars. I say cars in the plural as there have been several. All called Omm. I remember Omm 3. Omm 3 caused Charlie (who played Tipper/Gregoire on the 2013 tour) a lot of problems last year in Basingstoke and we never really saw it again after about February and no one is really sure what happened to it. Omm 4 appeared some time in the spring and has been with us ever since. So, Alastair was driving himself and George back to the country estate in Darlington when he realised there was a problem. The clutch had gone and Omm 4 stopped. And wouldn't restart.
And so it was time to call 'the very nice man' and get rescued. But the trouble was that 'the very nice man' took quite a while getting there and while Alastair seemed able to keep his spirits up, after about 2 hours, and bearing in mind that he had just spend the last 2 and a half hours on stage in a physically and mentally exhausting role, I think that maybe, just maybe, George had stopped seeing the funny side…..
 |
| Having just broken down, George was in good spirits whilst Alastair worked on his pout |
 |
| Poor Omm 4 |
 |
| A Very Nice Man…. |
 |
| George is no longer amused, although Alastair seems to have decided to improve his maniacal grin for future castings |
 |
| Alastair is still cheery and the 'nice man' is getting in on the action |
 |
| All turned out good in the end…….. |
Friday:
 |
| Sam's birthday Uke - brilliantly thought up by George Banks |
Otherwise we all got up to our own things and had a peaceful day looking around the beautiful city of Durham (our Associate Director, Charlotte Peters was a student here - fun fact of the day 2.). When we got to the theatre that evening, it was time to present Sam with his birthday presents. A ukelele signed by the whole company and an air hockey game. Later it was just a couple of birthday drinks in order due to the two shows the next day.
It was also time to celebrate the addition of another Alastair Whatley nickname. So far we have: Cuckoo, Bear, Goat, Betty Boop and Walrus (have you guessed who's who yet?). The previous evening Selma and I had given Alastair inspiration for the nickname 'The Woolf'. Answers on a postcard please, I'm not telling just yet!
Saturday:
 |
| Birthday Meal for Sam in between shows |
Sunday:
I love a road trip and it was a beautiful day when I drove to Cliffe Hall to pick up Jonny for our journey to the West Midlands. As I drove up the drive to the main house, I really couldn't believe my eyes. I had heard that the house and grounds were nice, but this was something else entirely:
 |
| Imagine staying here for a week. Amazing. Well found Alastair Whatley |
So, off to Birmingham and official press night……….
Must just add:
Two things here that I really must mention and neither of them really have anything to do with Birdsong, I'm afraid.
1. When Original Theatre stayed at Cliff's Hall with 'Three Men in a Boat', they made a film called 'Three Men Go Downton', a take on Downton Abbey. It's quite hysterical, so please do take a look at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4DEqPlFx2E
2. You may have seen the hype over the 'First Kiss' video that's been in the media. I haven't actually seen it, but know it's about what happens when people who've never met before are asked to kiss for the first time. Well, where I'm going with this, it that our 2013 Birdsong Tour's Jack Firebrace, Tim Treloar, has made a parody of it. And it's funny. Very funny. And Patrick Stewart apparently tweeted about it. So have a look at this too. Let's get him to 10,000 views.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=Fig7IQ4o9wA&app=desktop
Ta.
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