Salisbury: Week 4

Salisbury: Week Four

It's a new one on me:

I've never played Salisbury Playhouse before so I was quite interested to see what it was going to be like. It's not only a receiving house but also produces a lot of its own theatre and therefore has a full time in-house production team who were in the middle of rehearsing shows of their own. When I arrived I did see a familiar face though, Christine Hollinshead who I've worked alongside for Jordan Productions on their pantomime seasons and is CSM of Fareham panto, is employed there as one of the stage management team and was busy working away on the in-house shows. That's the thing about theatre it really can seem like a really small world at times. Sinead, our wardrobe supervisor has worked for Salisbury before and so she knew all of the ropes and who was who. And can I just say that everyone in the building remembered her and was delighted to see her (which shows what a gem she really is!).

As with Tunbridge Wells the previous week, Salisbury presented us with a bit of a challenge when it came to putting the set in. It has a large thrust stage (which means that the front of the stage 'thrusts' past the traditional boundaries of the stage and into the audience) and means that the cast would be a lot further back from the audience than usual. 

Roger, our CSM, putting the set up and then realising the
crew had taken the stairs down again

Now for me it was completely different. I usually am at whats called a 'prompt desk' (traditionally in the downstage left wing area) where I operate the sound and cue the lighting and fly cues and also use cue-lights to cue the actors or stage management for a scene change. Now, I promise you when I tell you this that I am telling the absolute truth: A prompt desk in the stage right wing is officially called a 'bastard prompt' - honestly, it's true. Look it up if you don't believe me. Done? Good. At Salisbury I was not only bastard prompt, but I was actually in a recessed area (which I named my grotto) which runs alongside the left side of the auditorium and above the audience. It also has a little window which I could open to see the show out front. This was great for me as I've never properly seen the show from out front with all the lighting and costume.  It took a bit of jiggling to get the sound control system into the grotto but Mark (my sound guy for the day) and his lads were great and managed to squeeze it in by taking bits off the door and floor.

 When I arrived, GMoss and Roger had most of the set up already, except that Roger had gone up onto the raised section of the set and the crew had cheekily taken the stairs away again…..

Mark squeezing the sound control into the grotto

My 'Grotto'

The Prompt desk
(and all important sweets)

Peter coming to say hello - to his left was the
downstage right arch entrance

Simon and Peter as viewed (and zoomed in)
from my window

View of the company warm-up

Whatley's Return: 

Alastair fixes bayonets in rehearsal alongside Lucy and Elizabeth

Now, I have already spoken about Alastair's acting roles in the production, and this week was was to see him gain another. In addition to Turnwright (The Sapper), The Military Policeman (who has no name) and Levi (The German Soldier), this week was to see the return of Brennan (The Irish Infantryman). Yes folks. We were about to send our Director over the top. It's a pretty crucial part of the production and if you haven't yet seen it (why?) then I won't spoil it by going into too much detail, but suffice to say it's a pretty moving scene. The very first time we did this in the technical rehearsal last year, I was floored. The lighting, sound and incredible yet subtle acting in this short scene is incredibly powerful and an image that can't be forgotten easily. As I'm operating and cueing everything during this scene it can also be a bit scary for me as I constantly worry that one night I might mess it up. It was horrible those first few weeks last year, as it is so realistic that I almost felt as if I really was sending them to their deaths (I know that might sound dramatic, but the silence from the audience and then tumultuous applause that follows speaks for itself). Anyway, I once again, digress. Basically, we were about to kill our director. No, not really, but it was still something that needed a bit of extra rehearsal to make sure that we got it right. But Alastair was brilliant and coped with fixing his bayonet brilliantly as well as being suitably terrified (acting wise, I mean!).

Jonny Clarke was completely floored by Alastair's acting

Alastair in performance as viewed through
my window

Tedworth House:

On the Tuesday, our company was privileged enough to be invited to visit Tedworth House, one of four recovery centres run by Help for Heroes which aids and speeds the recovery of those of our armed forces who have been wounded or suffered illness. Not just open to serving members, it also caters for our veterans as well on either a residential or  day care basis. Once here, residents or day visitors can receive a range of treatments, therapies and courses to either help them to a position where they are able to return to duty or allow them to integrate back into civilian life. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the visit, but Alastair, Roger and some of our cast spent a morning there being shown around the facilities (which includes an indoor ski simulator!) by members of the Help for Heroes team. You may already know that Birdsong is a supporter of Help for Heroes and we regularly have bucket collections as the end of our show. If you wish to learn more about the work done by Tedworth House, please follow this link

http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/how-we-help/recovery-centres/tidworth-wiltshire/

Some of our company at Tedworth House

                                   

Thank you Salisbury:

I feel that there are so many things I could say about Salisbury and what a great week we had, but I am afraid I have to keep this blog reduce to just highlights otherwise I would run the risk of making this blog even longer than I'm sure it is already. Here's a few more things that happened during the week:

1. Carolin, the digs booking queen: Carolin managed to find the most incredible digs for us for the week at Bridge Farm where we each had amazing en-suite bedrooms in a rambling old farm house complete with Jane Austen style portraits on the stairs, a piano and a wonderful farmhouse style kitchen (watch out Simon, you could be overtaken here as the digs master……)

2. I promised I would mention the wonderful Sam Martin and his (much appreciated) regard and respect for his radio mic - leaving it beautifully coiled for me each night once he was done with it. 

 3. My car passed its M.O.T - but unfortunately Durham has despoiled it (more about that next week).
Seriously - I know you're not really interested in this, I am just being…..annoying.

4.We really got to meet a great bunch of people at Salisbury Playhouse and a big thanks must go to all of them for their hard work and support throughout the week. Such a welcoming theatre, it would be difficult to name them all, but thank you to Mark, Peter, Ricky, Fiona, Christine and Phil particularly.

5. Sebastian came to visit us and see the show and was, as always, charming and supportive and it was lovely to see him.

6. Peter went for a walk in The New Forest and came across a wild pony which he then followed. It led him to a clearing where other wild ponies were and he was able to get really close to them. He's got some great pictures and video footage of this, but here's just one:

A few of us have remarked at how fast the weeks are going now. Before we know it it will be July! I leave you with this final photo - and perhaps the first glimpse some of you will actually have had of me:

Me in my Grotto

Toodle pip!