Belfast: Week 19

Belfast: Week 19

I begin with an apology. The font changes halfway through this. I can't figure out why or seem to be able to change it. It's a mystery, but it's also gone midnight and I have panto rehearsals at 9:30am! 

Digs:

So, how often have I bored you about digs in this blog? Many, many, many times, I know. But this week was really something else. 

I had found an apartment a few months back on Theatre Digs Booker (great site if you're touring. You can see what's available straight away rather than spending hours phoning a long list of people, waiting for them to get back to you, only to discover that they're fully booked until Christmas 2018…..). It sounded great. Not far from the theatre, a gym on site, two double bedrooms, an en-suite, a twin and another bathroom. I was going to be sharing it with GMoss, Lucy and Sam. GMoss arrived first, having got an early flight from East Midlands. I arrived about 6 in the evening and the apartment was just as nice as expected. Except when you went out on the balcony………

Right opposite was a mammoth car park filled with loads of broken wooden pallets and one gigantic circle of wooden pallets. No cars seemed to have dared to go anywhere near it. There was also a couple of sofas with some rather dodgy looking chaps and teenagers sitting, drinking cheap beer.

GMoss and I spent a good part of the evening peeking out to see what was going on. The rotation of people on the sofas seemed to change every couple of hours or so until, around 8:30, a group of younger kids proceeded to see if they could set light to one of the sofas. It didn't look like they were going to manage it, but the next time we looked out, lo and behold, a sofa was ablaze. The firebrigade were quickly alerted and as the truck drove down the street, a couple of the quicker lads scampered up the wooden pallet tower and hid inside. The fire was put out, the hiding boys came down and were given a stern talking to by the firemen. 

Erm…… Firemen arrive…….

I have to admit, at that point, we were wondering what exactly we had landed ourselves with. Dodgy blokes drinking with teenagers on a sofa, kids committing arson and wood strewn all over the car park, across which the theatre stood, just around the corner from a smart hotel.

In fact, we were quite wrong and we discovered how much the next day when we got to the theatre. 

Tim S was back. Hurrah! And after some gentle ribbing from myself, GMoss and Sinead about having a week off (he was actually working on a previous commitment), we got into telling him and the crew about what we'd witnessed the evening before. The crew quickly filled us in:

Every year the wooden pallet tower is built in celebration of the Eleventh night, which is July 11th (also my birthday, might I add). At that moment loads of bonfires were being built across Northern Ireland in preparation for the celebrations and would be lit just after midnight on July 11th. This tradition goes back as far as the late 17th Century and King William of Orange, where bonfires were lit on the hills of Antrim and Down so ships could navigate through Belfast Lough before the Battle of the Boyne. According to the Daily Telegraph:

'Some of the tallest bonfires are in Belfast where one beacon at Lanark Way already stands at 50 feet, with plans to double that size by July 11.

In Newtownabbey, The Beast of Ballyduff, as its known, already stands tall on a new £30,000 concrete platform built by the local council for safety.'

At the time there were pleas for loyalists not to burn effigies of the Pope on the top of the bonfires. Because of the worry that these effigies might be burnt and also because they were in celebration of King William, a Protestant, some of the bonfires were in danger of being set light to in advance by extreme Catholics, and so were guarded around the clock…..

These were the people we had seem the day before……

Ok. Maybe not so much the kids who set light to the sofa, they probably had been guarding and got bored, but suddenly the area seemed much less scary and there was a new found respect for these local people who believed in something so much that they would sit through the night guarding this bonfire. Over the course of the week I saw fathers leading their young children across the car park by the hand and explaining the history of the bonfire and why it was built. How many English five year olds do you think know who William of Orange was? We also saw the bonfire being built in the dead of the night by men building towers of pallets to climb up and build it even higher. 

I apologise as I've probably not done this tradition enough justice in explaining it, but do have a look on-line if you're interested as it's fascinating. 

The bonfire on our last morning. The other side of the brick building behind
was the theatre

Theatre Blog:

Yes, sorry. This is a theatre blog and not a history one, I know. So, to more about our week.

Belfast's Grand Opera House is VAST. It had been a good few weeks since we'd been in such a large and traditional theatre. Parts of it are quite old, but the stage door area, green room and dressing rooms are very modern. It is so big that there is even a lift taking you from stage level up to the dressing rooms on the top floor. 

I had a brilliant prompt corner which I set up as a little mission control, where I could not only access everything I needed, but also their in-house sound system so I could alter it as I needed during the show. 

The cast were really happy with their dressing rooms, particualry Malcolm and Peter who had comfy chairs and fridges and were right next to the green room, which not only had a good seating area, but also a separate kitchen and a smoking balcony. 

My mission control

Coming To An End…….

We were all well aware that we only had a few weeks left of the tour, but this week was to see our final understudy rehearsal. Tim, Alastair and myself made sure that everyone was really grilled on lines and moves so that if anything were to happen in the next few weeks, we would be ready for it. The last understudy rehearsal is always a strange one. Everyone really knows what they're doing very well by then and each rehearsal has become more like a refresher that we do one afternoon a week. Whilst everyone is pleased to have an extra afternoon free in the last two weeks, there is also a bit of sadness there too as it brings home that soon we are all going to go our separate ways and some of us will probably never see each other again. Not for any particular reason, just that keeping in contact with everyone in this industry is really hard. I have met some amazing people over the years who I have been very close to on jobs, but then don't see them for years afterwards. My friend Chris, who I mentioned meeting up with in Birmingham, and I were almost inseparable for three pantomime seasons in Loughborough, but when I saw him in March it was the first time in over four years. Yet he remains one of my best friends. 

Anyway, enough of that. There'll be time for more sentiment later.

We did decide that it had been too long since we had had a company meal and so Tim S booked us into a gorgeous Chinese restaurant not far from the theatre and insisted on buying us all a drink which I think much have cost him about 60 quid. 

Afterwards a couple of us went on to a place next door which was one of those bars that have a series of rooms and areas. Can't remember the name, but it was marvellous and I purchased a watering can cocktail, which was basically a load of prosecco, lychee and elderflower served in a watering can with a flower in. Delicious!

Watering can cocktail

Tim S takes charge of pouring

One of the booths at our local pub. We had just locked them in and took this
photo over the top. Alastair, Peter and Lucy had gone to the coast that day
and got stupidly burnt, as you can see from Alastair's redness (second from right)

Celine Dion:

No trip to Belfast would be comlpete without a visit to the Titanic museum. I'd been wanting to go for ages. An ex-partner of mine was a bit of a Titanic buff (he shared his birthday with the date the ship hit the iceberg - April 14th. It sank on the 15th - in case you're interested) and we had wanted to go on the centenary but couldn't. 

Lucy and Sinead managed the trip a bit earlier in the week, but Alastair and I left it a bit late. I took myself off on the Friday lunchtime, not realising exactly how far it was to walk from the flat and so only had about an hour and a half when I finally got there, which meant although I did see most of the museum, I didn't get down to the dry dock, which I had wanted to see. Still, maybe I'll get another chance…..

The museum is BRILLIANT. It really is more of an 'experience' than a museum with loads of interactive parts as well as a little mine cart ride which takes you around a re-built innards of the Titanic as if it was being built around you. It wasn't too cheesy at all, apart from the obligatory 'photo of you in front of the Titanic' a la rubbish CGI, which they tried to flog you on the way out, and the wailings of Celine Dion in the 'Titanic in the media' section (yes, they did go there and I was reminded of the best line in South Park the musical 'La Resistance' - you tube it) it was a really great experience. I would urge you to go!

I don't think Alastair made it in the end. He was going to go on the Saturday before the matinee but was worried it would be heaving and so opted for the Sunday morning, but I believe he may have over slept….. Is that correct Simon?!

Me on my way. I'd been going about 40 minutes and knew I was near, but
not sure how near….

At one point I thought that this was it.
How stupid I was…..

This was it

Amazing. Built, unsurprisingly like both an iceberg and the prow of a ship

Looking down into the shaft of the ship building ride

If I remember correctly this was a second class cabin reconstruction

Looking out of one of the 'prows' across Belfast

Back to Englandshire:

Once again we were all on different flights back to England, with some being ridiculously early. Sinead bedded down on our sofa for the night as she was getting a taxi with Sam and Lucy at stupid o'clock. GMoss and I had afternoon flights so had a more leisurely morning at the flat before heading off. I was delighted as I was flying back to Exeter airport which is about 10 minutes from my parent's house. We, once again, had no Monday shows and so were all looking forward to a nice extra day off. Although not all of us were getting a day off….. No. Peter had something very exciting to be doing. But more about that next time.

It was getting to the end and we were conscious that apart from one week off, we had been together for over 20 weeks. We're we getting sick of each other? NEVER! Far too much left to look forward to, Swindon to explore and Eastbourne to visit but this time with (hopefully) some sun!!