Winchester: Week 11

Winchester: Week 11

Bad Parent:

Oh dear, my poor readers. I do feel as if I have abandoned you recently and have behaved a bit like a bad parent. Out having far too much fun and leaving my children home alone……
Ok, ok. Maybe that's a bit dramatic, but suffice to say that I do feel a little guilty. The only excuse I can give is, whilst I have had a bit of fun, I have also found myself with rather a lot heaped on my plate in the past few weeks - un-tour related, of course so I shall not bore you with that here!
Anyway, enough of my guilt. Let's get you up to speed with everything that has been happening:

Breathe in chaps!

So, last time I left you we were in Bury St Edmunds where we were a little concerned about space, but if you remember, it all turned out rather well in the end and the set was a perfect fit.
We were anticipating a similar situation in Winchester. I'd been there last in 2008 with a company of just nine and I remember it being a bit of a squeeze dressing room wise. And yes, it still was a squeeze, with all the female company in one room and all the male company in another, until the wonderful people at the theatre made their studio space available for half of the male cast. They had a meeting in it the following day and even helped to clear our stuff out and move the boys back again afterwards. I find that it's also good sometimes for everyone to be in together occasionally as it is a good bonding experience. Often, as both and actor or a member of stage management or wardrobe or whatever, you can sometimes feel as if you haven't seen a particular person for ages. Sometimes you may not have many scenes with another actor or your offstage times doesn't coincide, if you're on a completely different level dressing room to them then suddenly you realise that you haven't really seen that person in days! The same goes for me at the prompt desk. If I'm one side I'll have more interaction with certain people than on another. Sometimes I am even boxed in because of sight lines and the cast can't get to me without being seen. Theatre Royal Bath has a little Juliet type balcony where the DSM ops and calls from, accessible only by a steel vertical ladder. When we were there with Birdsong last year, I wouldn't really see another person until the interval. Charlie and Liam would climb the ladder to talk to me but you couldn't hang on to it for long. Don't get me wrong, it had its advantages as well, if you wanted a bit of alone time, for example, and as Arthur Bostrom pointed out, I did look a bit like Lieutenant Uhura from Star Trek at my control station with my comfy chair, headset and glowing LED buttons!! But, as usual, I digress. I'm meant to be talking about Winchester, not Bath!
So, I think that the lads were quite pleased to be together in two big groups rather than in pairs for a change. There was plenty of tomfoolery in the dressing room and even Alastair got in on the action accidentally taking this very saucy picture of Peter (I must add that I have his full permission to publish this - in fact HE insisted that I include it in the blog) - I do warn you that if you suffer from a nervous disposition then look away now……

Unintentional nudity…….

The set ended up fitting beautifully again and I was pleased to see some familiar faces were still on the crew. Just as well they were there as I seemed to have got a bout of food poisoning and had been throwing up at around 4am (still dry so no, it was not over indulgence!). I think it was some milk that had gone….. Oh, you really don't want to know about this, do you? Anyway, concerned that I might end up contaminating my digs people, Spatz (possibly one of my most favourite technical stage managers) and a lovely lady from the office (whose name I was feeling too rubbish to remember properly - sorry!) were great, sorting me out a hotel so I could be ill in relative peace and not infect anyone (just incase it wasn't the milk….).

Visitors! Hooray!

Woo hoo! We had some more familiar faces come to see us in Winchester. One of the faces that I've been missing most this year is the lovely one belonging to Miss Polly Hughes who was our Lisette and Prostitute last year. Unfortunately she came on the Monday, when I was dashing out the door telling everyone to keep away from me in case I contaminated the air with my mystery bug. However, she had a few drinks with our new company and got to catch-up with Malcolm and Alastair and, of course, had the obligatory picture taken with her counterpart!
Alex Wardle, our lighting designer, and native Winchesterner, also made two visits bringing along his lovely wife and introducing 'Wardle The Younger' - baby Edith who, if you remember, was born just before we opened in Eastbourne. Edith is one of those really happy babies who you just can't help but fall in love with on first sight. Jenny, our associate lighting designer came along too, bringing her parents to see the show, so we were all able to have a bit of a catch-up.

Our current Lisette, Selma, with our 2013 Lisette, Polly

Birdsong the Birthday tour…..:

By mid-week I was wondering if what I had had been an allergic reaction to something as I had now come out in a rash…. Still, I bravely battled on as we had a busy few weeks coming up. It was no longer 'Birdsong' UK tour, but 'Birdsong Birthday Festival….
We are having so many on this tour and May is fast becoming THE month to have a birthday. This week we got to celebrate not only Carolin's, but also Peter's, who was lucky enough to have his birthday falling in-between the Winchester and Exeter AND covering a Bank Holiday (and it was a BIG birthday but shhhhh)!
Carolin was first and was delighted with her present from the company - a voucher for a massage - and Alastair had and otter card specially made and sent (if you remember, that's what Carolin's nickname is). Peter received the slightly more manly presents of a Bob Dylan book and CD, a silver tankard engraved with his 'Horse' joke he makes during the show (if you haven't heard it yet, please be assured, it's hilarious!) and a pink tie-dye wolf t-shirt.

Peter is presented with his presents

Engraved tankard

We like you Winchester, we do….:

I've always liked Winchester. I even looked at going to the Uni there back in the day when it was King Alfred's College (I believe that it is now The University of Winchester). There are so many beautiful buildings, housing boutique little shops, a fantastic selection of pubs and restaurants and there's even a Cathedral to have a look round. You're not too far from London, there's a good train service and you're fairly close to historic sites like Stonehenge (don't worry, you're not going to get another history lesson like you did in York). I had marvellous digs that week, for once being in a family home about a 10 minute walk away. All in all (mysterious illness which has never been solved, aside) it was a very good week.  We would all get to enjoy a Monday off as we weren't due in Exeter until the Tuesday and so that was a bit of a bonus, actually being able to have a proper day off with no travelling. So we all set off in our various directions on the Saturday night in excellent spirits. Thanks so much to all at Winchester for giving us such a great time (especially the lovely lady who found that hotel for me!).

GMoss packing our set in the truck on Saturday night

Surprise!

So, I have a little treat for you. You're going to have a guest blogger for the weeks of Exeter and Cork. I'm having a little break, but don't worry, I'll be back to update you all with the news from Hull.
Oh. You want to know who the guest blogger is?

Tough.

Only joking. I'll be leaving you in the excellent hands of our leading man, Mr George Banks.

Performing Bear in a sparkly hat. Just…. Because.

Bury St Edmunds: Week 10

Bury St Edmunds: Week 10

Back to it:

So, here we were again. We'd all had a lovely week off and enjoyed Easter and the copious amounts of chocolate that it had brought and now it was time to get going with the second leg of the tour. It was also time to deal with what would probably be one of the smallest venues that we would be visiting this year. Bury St Edmunds' Theatre Royal is the last remaining Regency Playhouse in England and so is completely different in layout to anything we would have experienced before or would do again. The auditorium has a small stalls area which looks up to the quite high stage and the rest of the auditorium is made up by a series of small boxes, all with their own individual doors leading out to the foyer. These boxes go right around the auditorium in a wide semi-circle on two levels and then above that is a small, but very high, gallery. But the theatre's most spectacular sight is saved for the ceiling which is painted to resemble the sky above (much like Hogwarts' Great Hall, but it doesn't change!) so the audience have fluffy white clouds in a blue sky over their heads for the whole performance. 

We were a little concerned before we went to the venue that the stage may not be quite deep enough to get the set on and still be able to move around upstage of it, but actually the set fitted beautifully and we even had a touch more room than we had had at Worthing. 

As the theatre is another part producing, part receiving house, Green Room facilities were excellent and there was even a pot of filter coffee constantly on the go during the fit-up. The lads were delighted to find a playstation attached to the TV and many a happy hour was spent lounging on the comfy sofas blowing each other up in Battlestation 4 or whatever. 

The theatre itself is on one side of the town centre and right opposite the Greene King brewery, so there was always a scent of malt in the air as you made your way into the centre. The centre itself is beautiful with gardens leading to a magnificent Cathedral. The streets are partly cobbled and there's a surprising amount of shops once you find your way around.

Theatre Royal Auditorium

The sky above the audience's heads

A family affair:

Bury St Edmunds has a few family ties for some of us. I was staying with my 88 year old Great Aunt for the week, which was lovely. I try to get to see her whenever I'm in the Essex/Suffolk/Norfolk area on tour, but normally it's only for one afternoon so it was nice to be able to spend a few days with her. Bury is also the home town of our Director/co-producer/Levi/Turnwright/Military Policeman, Alastair Whatley, so he was home for a week. Some of our investors also come from the area and on the opening night, along with our producers Jon and Anne-Marie, we got to meet some of them. One was an old friend of Alastair's family and was telling us some good stories about some of Alastair's very first productions - both professional (Twelfth Night in the Abbey Gardens sounded brilliant. If a bit wet, apparently…) and non-professional (performances on Christmas Day in front of the family and friends sound equally brilliant. Photos please Mr and Mrs Whatley!).

On the Thursday night Alastair's parents had the whole company over to their home for a meal and drinks, which was a great success and all of the company had a fantastic time.

The boys said that no girls were allowed in the tunnel, so the girls decided
to prove them wrong.

What we're fighting for:

At times it can be difficult to remember what is really important whilst we're all getting swept up in the trivialities of every day life. When we're getting riled up by a chance remark someone might have said, becoming annoyed at the ever rising price of petrol, fighting road rage in traffic queues or sometimes just being fed-up because we're tired and a bit grumpy that day. It's sometimes easy to forget that out there people are fighting, living and dying in some pretty horrible and desperate conditions. That there are places and situations that make our petty trivialities and moans pale into insignificance. On Friday we had a stark reminder that we are not just re-playing a war on stage every night, but that there is a very real war going on in the world right now. Several in fact. I really don't want to start sounding preachy and I think I am in danger of becoming so, so I'll get to the point.
The Friday night performance of Birdsong in Bury St Edmunds was dedicated to Lance Corporal of Horse Jonathan Woodgate, or Jo as he was known to his friends. A friend of Alastair's from his schooldays and also a Bury St Edmunds boy, Lance Corporal of Horse Woodgate was killed in March 2010 in Afghanistan by an insurgent's grenade whilst on patrol. He was just 26 years old. We were honoured to have some of his family in the audience for the show and at the curtain call Alastair made a short dedication to his friend, ensuring that Bury St Edmunds was able to remember and honour a handsome, brave, much loved and clever young man who, by all accounts, was destined for a great future. If you would like to know more about Lance Corporal Jonathan Woodgate, please follow this link which will take you to the newspaper article that appeared in the Bury press the following week http://www.buryfreepress.co.uk/news/local/latest-news/show-is-dedicated-to-fallen-bury-st-edmunds-soldier-1-6033066

Too loooooooooonnnnnnnngggggg:

I've had a few comments from my fellow company members about how long my blogs are getting each week, (sorry, I do like to go into minute detail sometimes. This is due to me liking to know absolutely everything about anything and everything and I forget that not everyone has this need…..) so you'll be delighted to know that that's it for this week. But before I go, I must just share this one story with you as I know the company would be horrified if I didn't. On the Friday, we had a visit from our Military adviser, Tony Green. It had been his 40th birthday several weeks before and as this was the first time we had seen him since, it was time to present him with his birthday present. An autographed Jerry can that we had recently cut from the show (Tony has always loved it so…..). But that's not the story. The story is what happened after the show that night.
Carolin had left the building and gone home before she realised that she had left her mobile phone behind. Hoping that the theatre would still be open she made her way back and managed to get in through the unmanned stage door….. Just as the duty manager was locking the building and setting the alarms and, crucially, plunging the building (and Carolin) into darkness. And then… posting his keys back through the theatre letter box, ready for the next day. Just as…. Carolin's moving about in the pitch black below set the alarms off. Somehow, in the dark, Carolin managed to find a side door and got out into a yard. But she wasn't on the street, she was trapped by a large metal fence with spikes on the top. Meanwhile, the bewildered duty manager had to phone our duty technician, Lawrence, to come and stop the alarms as his keys were back inside the building. Somehow, Carolin managed to scale the fence and get back onto the street where she immediately ran to the front of the building and confessed al to the duty manager. The theatre staff were great and very sympathetic to Carolin. Apparently, when the lights go off you really can't even see your hand in front of your face. But praise must also go to Carolin too for her bravery in scaling the fence!

We had Help For Heroes collections after some performances and had a visit
from the Help for Heroes bear!

Bear with Bear

My very own Help For Heroes airforce bear. Named Harry
after my grandfather who was in the RAF in WWII

Tony with his birthday Jerry can

So. There you go. That was Bury St Edmunds. A fantastic week in a lovely historic venue. Thank you all for making us feel so welcome.