Hull: Week 14

Hull: Week 14

Sorry chaps. Despite (or perhaps because of…) the popularity of George Banks' last two blog entries, you've got me back to tell you about Hull. And there's nothing you can do about it!!!!!!!

Sleeeeeepy:

So, most people had opted to go straight from Cork to Hull and not travel back home for a day first. This meant that there were some very tired bodies on Sunday night and Monday morning. As George told you last week, some of the company were on very early morning flights on the Sunday, not so bad for the cast who had left the theatre before 11pm, but for those on the get-out….. We are very lucky as a company to have producers who have worked the touring circuit a lot themselves and who know how important those few extra hours at home can be. We'd all been given options of where and when we wanted to fly to and from Cork, but it had been several weeks before when we'd all made the decisions, so suddenly all the those first thing in the morning flights didn't seem like such a good idea anymore (something similar happened to me with flying to Dundee recently, but more of that another time….)! GMoss and myself were on far more civilised flight times, me at around 11:30am and GMoss later in the afternoon. Hence we felt a little smug as we had our post-get-out Guinness, knowing we had a bit of a lie in in the morning! 

I was flying back to Bristol and from there driving on up to Hull. Getting there late afternoon I found that the Campanile I was staying at had a beer garden which was completely deserted, so I did the only thing possible and enjoyed a few pints in the dying rays of the evening sun. 

The Alans and their crews:

Although a new venue for GMoss and Sinead, myself and Roger had played Hull New Theatre before, albeit quite a few years ago for both of us. We were delighted to see that many of the crew remained the same and that even Alan, the former chief electrician, comes out of retirement occasionally to work on get-his and outs. Under the direction of another Alan, the stage manager, the excellent crew had the set up in no time and lighting Alan zipped about on his cherry picker focusing the lights at top speed. Hull New Theatre is one of the bigger ones we were doing on the tour, the auditorium is vast and the backstage a maze of dressing rooms and offices both above and below the stage. 

Outside stage door at the New Theatre

At lunchtime, us worker bees popped over to 'The Old English Gentleman' pub which is a stone's throw from stage door. They weren't serving food but Paul, the landlord, was happy for us to get a sandwich from the shop opposite and eat them in there with a few cokes to wash them down. We'd found our local for the week!

Just across from stage door

The cast all started arriving from about 2pm and I got great pleasure from bringing them on stage to see how big the stage was in comparison with what we had become used to recently.

Everyone was a little sleepy from their travels still, but on the whole everyone was in good spirits and delighted to have the trench entrance back to normal. There was also much excitement as James had brought along Bramley, his dog, who had been sorely missed by us since Cheltenham. 

James and Bramley outside the theatre main entrance

Quite a large auditorium…….

The show zipped by successfully and afterwards the friends of the theatre had provided us with a small reception with a free drink and some much appreciated food! Apart from a minor glitch which had meant that GMoss had had to completely rewire a lighting unit in the afternoon (he really can fix almost anything), the day had been a successful one. A few of us decided that we wanted to continue on for a few beers, but with no pubs open, a very obliging taxi man took George to the nearest 24hr Sainsbury's to get supplies so we could go back to the house he was sharing with Jonny and Lizzie, which turned out to be just around the corner from my hotel. 

It's Never Dull in Hull:

The very first time I played Hull, myself and our sound engineer bought bumper stickers with these very words on. It's true, there is always something you can find to keep you entertained. Alastair found he could indulge his latest hobby of finding pubs, restaurants, drinks, food items etc that bear the same name as someone he has given a nickname to. He was also able to give new nicknames. Have we told you yet that George is now The Honey Badger? I don't know why. I wasn't there for the naming. I can find out if you want?? 

Alastair keeps himself entertained

Also to keep us entertained, we had two party nights to celebrate………. 

Birdsong 2014 Tour turning 100!

Yes, we'd final arrived at our centenary, during the centenary of World War one itself and parties were definitely in order. 

Simon booked us all a table at what is probably one of the most hilarious Italian restaurants I have ever been in. I had been there for a company meal before, back in 2007 and had had a really good time with nice food. It's just around the corner and with Simon pre-ordering our food for us it looked to be a good evening. It was a good evening, but lets say that it wasn't due to the charm of the waiting staff. I honestly half-expected Basil Fawlty (yes, him not Manuel) to come out of the kitchen any second, grab our plates away and tell us to get out! In the end the whole thing became really very funny and despite missing orders, late arrivals and the fact that Lizzie didn't get anything and then got given an 'emergency' pizza which contained blue cheese, which she hates, we had an excellent time. George had very generously bought several bottles of Prosecco from the bar which he shared out between us, along with a giant chocolate champagne bottle with 100 iced on to it (dessert was, thankfully sorted). Alastair made a very nice and touching speech and Peter, Jonny, Carolin and Simon finished up with a bit of entertainment in the form of human ventriloquist dummies. 

Happy 100th show Birdsong. 

An entertaining meal……...

After dinner ventriloquism 

Peter and Jonny show us how it's done

On-going celebrations:

So, that was the Wednesday and it wasn't enough to have just one party. No. We had to have another on the next night as well. Carolin was actually staying at The Old English Gentleman and had arranged for us to have a bit of a lock in and also, very generously, paid for a load of food to be provided. It turned into a really nice and chilled out evening with singing around the ukulele and a bit of guitar from GMoss and I even gave some Les Mis on the piano. 

Our 2nd party!!!!

Moving on:

The last couple of days in Hull passed really quickly and everyone was in good spirits as we had a Bank Holiday coming up which meant not only did we get the Sunday off, but the Monday as well. Our next venue was to be Doncaster which is less than an hour's drive from Hull so some of us were staying up in Yorkshire over the weekend. For others though, it was a great opportunity to get back home and see family and friends after what had been 3 full weeks away for most. 

Cast, Doncaster is a brand new venue which only opened last autumn and designed by Charcoal Blue, a company which both Jon, our producer/production manager, and Alex and Jenni our lighting designer and associate, all work for and we were looking forward to seeing what the newly opened theatre had to offer. 

Catch-up with us soon as we hit Doncaster, Colchester, Dundee and Leicester!

Cork: Week 13

Cork: Week 13

So, did you enjoy Geroge Banks' Exeter blog? If you did then get set, as here's his take on our week in Cork. If you didn't enjoy it, tough. Here's Cork anyway!

Now I know what you’re thinking and yes, last week’s blog probably was the most distinguished piece of writing you’ve ever come across, but hold on to your hats, because I shall endeavour to best it with this blog instalment about the mighty Cork. 

First thing’s first then, did I have digs ready? Absolutely not. I hopped on a plane at an ungodly hour Monday morning with the genius plan of booking digs when I arrived. But there was no need! At the airport Peter swiftly offered me a spare room in the house he had booked for himself, Simon and James. Done and dusted. Did I stay there? Not for most of the week, no. But more on that later. 

We arrived into Cork and after Peter and I failed to operate the hire car’s Satnav (then drove in the wrong direction for half an hour) ended up in our digs. There was a pool table. Immediately plans were drawn up for a competition but, tragically, we never quite got round to it. The odd game occurred and people’s competitive blood started to bubble up (I am the MOST competitive, obviously) but on the whole, we kept things friendly.

We arrived at the theatre later on and couldn’t believe how tiny the space was. The set was crammed onto the stage and the backstage was the tightest we had encountered yet. Though we’ve become quite adept at adapting to the space around us the smallness here meant quite a big change was in order. The ‘trench entrance’ that is used throughout the play was no longer available-there simply wasn’t space to travel through it in the wing, so instead of turning left out of it, you turned right and past the ‘tunnel entrance’ which had black cloth draped over it to mask our wandering feet. Easy, right? After a quick sound check we were told what changes to entrances and exits had to be made and we hastily jotted them down. My usual dressing room partner on the tour is Malcolm but this week we found ourselves all in one dressing room for the first time, the boys in one and the girls in another. The atmosphere, as you can imagine, was pretty raucous-jokes and jibes started to fly pretty quickly, but it’s always interesting observing how people get themselves focused just before the play goes up. Everyone seems to have that moment when the task at hand clicks in and they head off into the darkness of the wing.

Cork Theatre - Beautiful but quite a narrow Proscenium
arch (the frame of the stage) and quite shallow.

Beautiful old fashioned boxes, not used for this show
as the view would be very restricted.

The first show went up relatively hitch free but, of course, some people forgot the changes. Given that we had done the show nearly one hundred times by this point it is understandable, it becomes a part of your muscle memory, but it resulted in what quickly became known as the ‘walk of shame’, illustrated for your convenience here. 

I shan’t name names, but there were very few who didn’t have to complete the ‘Walk of Shame’. Do you think I missed my calling as an illustrator? 

That evening in the pub something incredible happened. I had my first ever Guinness. In Ireland. Bought for me by an Irish woman-our very own Sinead. It was INCREDIBLE. After a brief lesson in how to drink it from Sam (9-10 sips, with the suds in the glass of a well poured Guinness an indication of how many you’ve had) and another pint or two of the black nectar I found myself moving on to Whisky. Though the aforementioned entrance swapping seems like a tiny thing, it’s something that shoots a little bit of new energy into the play-having to engage your brain whilst moving through the piece. As a result we found ourselves in high spirits, joking about the slipups, and decided to move onto one of Cork’s bars across the bridge and a little further into town. We tore up the dance floor well into the night and I ended up on a sofa in the girl’s flat. Shocker.

Sinead, Me and my first Guinness.
The black nectar, very tasty indeed

The next day Sam, Jonny and myself shuffled into town for a sure fire hangover cure-a late breakfast/early lunch in the Gourmet Burger Bar, just round the corner from the theatre. Needless to say we crushed through our tasty meals and proceeded to spend most of the day drifting through the city, exploring some shops and other bits and bobs. That evening another show and another night not spent in my digs. My father was in Ireland for work so we both stayed in a B&B close to the theatre. He came to watch the show, not having seen it since close to when we opened and we found ourselves chatting with the rest of the company afterwards about how much the piece has changed. One of those things you forget as you roll along. 

The Burger boys looking a little grey after a night’s boozing.
Sam flying the flag for what we agreed is the best hangover cure

Wednesday saw another outing for the three burger boys, this time we headed to the cinema to watch Spiderman 2 (which we all enjoyed). We ate popcorn and sweets, had nachos smothered in fake cheese and sugar filled slushie ice drinks. We felt like kings. Very fat, super unhealthy kings...but kings none the less. The show was particularly enjoyable that night, due in large part to a very vocal audience member. Perched on the front row was a very sweet lady who, every time Sam’s character Evans uttered a sentence with dirty connotations (and that’s a lot, if you haven’t seen the play), proceeded to be titillated enough to audibly exclaim ‘Oh Jesus’. Credit to Sam, he kept it together...I don’t think I can say the same for those of us in the wing. They became our favourite two words that week.

That wasn’t the only interesting thing to happen that evening. Later on Sam was accosted by a gentleman in the pub toilet, enquiring as to whether or not he had seen the theatre ghost. Apparently it is a gentleman looking for his hat and can be seen wandering the building, appearing in locations as diverse as the auditorium to the fly towers. The man produced compelling reports of eye witness accounts and even photographic evidence, but alas, our search for him proved in vain. I also ended up back in my own digs that night, which is arguably even spookier, and enjoyed some incredible food prepared by Simon’s partner Wendy-affectionately referred to as Mrs. Bear, obviously.

On Thursday Simon, James and I ventured off to visit the grave of Oliver Reed-a particular hero of Simons. It is located in a tiny town a little drive away from Cork and you need to obtain the keys to the graveyard from his local pub. The story goes that his wife wanted to bury him on the grounds of his house, but the other regulars insisted he be buried close by so that they could say good night to him upon closing time and she granted them their wish. Indeed we met people inside who used to socialise with the big man and they told us fond stories of their time spent together, he was obviously very dear to them. The grave had a little statue of Bulls Eye, Bill Sikes’ dog in ‘Oliver!’, perched next to it and people who came to visit left unopened cans of Guinness behind the grave in tribute to the actor. I always find it interesting being in a graveyard, I think it’s fair to say we found ourselves a little more subdued and reflective on the car journey back. 

Oliver Reed's grave
(Stolen from Simon's twitter page)

People still leave offering of booze for him to enjoy…..

The week continued to whizz past, lovely houses and a very warm reception every night from the audiences. We had no matinees for the week and it allowed us to recover a little physically, the demands the play makes of your body really do creep up on you. 

Saturday was a big day for Simon, an ardent Arsenal fan, as the FA cup final was on. Our next week was in Hull so he wasn’t overly keen on arriving there on Monday only to witness a victory parade at the expense of his beloved team. The pressure was on. Jonny travelled over to watch with us in our digs, whilst there he insisted on wearing a toga fashioned out of a bed sheet and that we all refer to him as ‘Santiago’-telling us he was going to school us ‘Roman style’ at pool. To be fair to him, he’s very good, but to this day he has offered no explanation in regards to the character he adopted. After a very tasty lunch we settled down for kick off. I won’t go into the ins and outs of the match but it was fairly gruelling for Simon, not helped by Jonny and Peter cheering absurdly loudly for Hull. The game went into extra time and we had to leave for the theatre. Things got tense as we desperately searched for a radio station reporting on the game on the drive over, Simon barricaded himself into the dressing room as we made our way to the stage and eventually surfaced for warm up with a big smile on his face. He could face Hull next week. 

Jonny, as ‘Santiago’, and Simon settle into the FA cup final,
while the La Liga decider plays on the iPad. Football mad

That night I stayed on a sofa yet again, this time at the flat of Lauren and Alastair and my memory is so hazy of events that week that I couldn’t even tell you where I stayed Thursday or Friday. I’m pretty sure I only stayed in digs twice. Who knows... I promise I’ll get better. Other goings on that week included Sinead’s mother coming to watch the show and, just like her daughter, insisted on buying me a Guinness too (my first from a first generation Irish woman you see) and we had one of our more interesting talkback sessions after the play. Normally they take place with the audience remaining in the seats and the cast coming out onto the stage, but in Cork they just invite everyone into the bar with the actors sitting on stalls along it and the audience at tables scattered around the room. It makes for a very relaxed atmosphere and it was a wonderful session. Some people also ventured out for walks during our time there in the lovely Irish countryside, to my shame I can’t say I joined in.

The Post-show discussion took place in the bar

On Sunday we dragged our hungover selves into the airport VERY early and we had only taken a few steps in when Carolin realised that she had left her passport in her case, which was now on the truck hurtling to its next destination. After the initial panic of being stuck in an airport subsided, the very helpful and sympathetic staff managed to arrange for her to fly and she landed safely back in the UK with the rest of us, no interrogation necessary. I have never seen panic so clearly etched onto someone’s face, bless her.

Just before I sign off, I wanted to mention something I had forgotten about Exeter. During the week I came in to work through an understudy rehearsal as Stephen. It was a very interesting experience and a reminder of just how different a part can be when played by another actor. Though I couldn’t imagine the play with different people in the roles now it’s amazing to see how the actors you work with can shift and become such different and clearly defined characters. I suppose it’s one of the reasons I love doing what I do.

Well, that’s it, my last blog entry for the tour. I apologise for the tardiness. As I write this there’s only a few weeks left and I can’t quite believe the tour is winding down. If you’ve been to see it I hope you enjoyed it and if you haven’t yet I hope you get a chance to come along and say hi. It’s a play we love and are proud to be in. See you at the theatre.

George Banks

Twitter: @1georgebanks

Lauren butts back in:

Thanks to George for another great blog. Just to add a couple of things about our week in Cork:

The pub that we drank in most evenings, is right next door to the theatre and called 'Dan Lowrey's', which incidentally is what the theatre used to be called until it was renamed The Everyman. The landlord was really accommodating to us, not minding if we were hanging around a bit finishing our pints after last orders and on the Friday, he even laid on food for us after the show and stayed open later. This was great for another reason too: It was mine, GMoss' and Malcolm's 300th SHOW!! As the three of us did the tour last year we're just a bit ahead of most of this year's cast, who would be celebrating their 100th show the following week in Hull (more of that next time). Sinead celebrated her 300th the next day and naturally, we had a few drinks on both occasions to toast our longevity!

A big thank you to all the staff at 'Dan Lowrey's' and the staff at the theatre who looked after us so well. Particularly to Naomi, the in-house producer who was so helpful to Sinead, and also to Mark and his crew who worked so hard on getting the show in and working in a short space of time. 

We've got some exciting blogs coming up for you. We're hoping by this time next week you'll be almost completely up to date with Hull, Doncaster, Colchester, Dundee and Leicester, so do keep an eye out for almost daily new blogs. We've also got another guest blogger; our director, co-produceer and performer extraordinaire Alastair Whatley will be telling you all about Colchester. 

In the meantime I'll leave you with a few more pictures of a ramble I took around Cork one day. 

Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral

Side view of the Catherdral

I went to the old fort which is being restored.
 It oddly has normal houses built inside

Part of the fort

A view over the river

And I bought a lamp shaped like a giraffe…..

Exeter: Week 12

Exeter: Week 12

Ladies and Gentlemen of the blogging sphere. You are in for a real treat this week. Our Exeter blog has been written by none other than our leading man, Mr George Banks. So, without further ado, I shall hand you over to him:

Birdsong Blog Exeter

So here it is, my first ever blog entry. I’ll try and match the lofty standards set by our Lauren thus far...wish me luck.

We arrived down in Exeter on the Tuesday. The actor’s call for the first day in a new venue is 4.45-I arrived a little early to explore the town and buy everyone some fudge. When in Rome. Although normally very organised when it comes to digs booking apparently on this tour I’ve just decided to wing it every week. I managed to find a room on the train down and although this may seem like an unnecessary detail, I promise you it will come into play later.

Fudge bought I headed to the theatre. Good old googlemaps told me it was a twenty minute walk. Easy. What they didn’t tell me was that it was up the steepest hills on Earth. Now, I’m not one to complain about walking, but seriously, I looked like I had had a shower when I arrived. It didn’t help that en route I busted one of the wheels on my case and had to lug the beast along with me. You might think this would put me in a horrid mood, but when I arrived at the theatre I cheered right up. It’s located within the university campus and is a lovely space, with big patches of grass around it. You can’t be grumpy on a sunny day with that around you. I met Lauren outside and was informed that the get in had been pretty quick so stress levels were low and we should be starting on time. Fast rig, set when up smoothly...that’s about as much technical information I can provide you with. I always feel terrible that we stroll up more than 8 hours after the crew begin their day so was insistent that she sampled the fudge. She’s a particular fan of the chocolate variety, that’s valuable information right there.

The Northcott Theatre is next to the University's Great Hall
(Editor's note: Having spent 4 years studying at Exeter Uni, I can confirm the steepness of the hills.
One is even called 'Cardiac Hill'…….)

The space itself was very different from what we had experienced so far. The stage was on a flat level with the audience, making it a lot more intimate. If there are moments in the play when you travel as far as possible downstage then you would almost genuinely be on someone’s lap. A few nerves started to rumble through the cast as they realised they had people coming to watch. They located their seats and couldn’t quite believe just how close they would be to them.

One sound check and a warm up later and the show goes up. Despite our reservations about the relationship distance wise with the audience the space is a beautiful one to play. The sound pings through the auditorium like a dream, so you don’t have to work too hard to make your dialogue reach the back and the intimate nature of the seating means you can pull the performances right back and find some nice new detail within the play. It may seem like an odd thing finding new details, given how long we have now be up for, but the space really does play a massive part in the performance that you give. The audience were really receptive to the piece too and we continued to have lovely houses all week, nearly capacity and often standing.

After the first night we ended up at The Firehouse, a bar in the town. Little did we know we had found our haven for the week, visiting almost every night after the show. The drinks here were reasonably priced and the place had a relaxed atmosphere, but the thing that was absolutely key in winning our affection/loyalty were the pizzas. They make pizza here until 1.30 in the morning and they are RIDICULOUS. A big 14” square hot out of the oven and perfect for a ravenous company to descend upon. We ate more of these than should be humanly possible during our visit. They also served Otter beer which, given Carolin’s nickname within the company, made Alastair very happy.

Carolin requesting that you ‘relax with an otter’. You should, she’s very friendly.

Despite having checked into my digs after the warm up, that night I ended up back at the house of Jonny, Sam, Selma, Carolin and Lizzie. We had a few drinks and before you know it I was crashing on a mattress there (without a blanket, which we proceeded to find an entire bow of the next morning. Feel free to imagine the expletives I cannot type here). The conversation got on to tattoos at one point in the evening and so, before bed, I gifted Jonny with a Sharpie tattoo to celebrate his nickname. Not to be outdone, Hannah-our lighting operator for the week, insisted on inking me later on in the week. She hit me up with a rad Pikachu tat. You decide which you prefer. 

Goat versus Pikachu. Who wins? You decide.

Wednesday was an exciting day for the show, we now had putties! For those that don’t know putties were a piece of kit worn by soldiers in WWI to keep water out of their boots. They are essentially a piece of cloth that wraps around the leg from the base of the ankle to below the knee. We initially had ones that kind of work like leg warmers but as the show rolled on and they got battered it was decided that authentic putties would be the best way to go. Below is a picture of our lovely costumer Sinead demonstrating how to put them on in the warm up. I also think you’ll all agree Sam would make a wonderful leg model. That evening I ended up in my digs for the first time.

Look at those legs. Phwoar. I don’t know how Sinead can 

stay focused on the task at hand!

Thursday was a matinee day so, of course, it was a cast members birthday! This time Malcolm’s, who plays Azaire and Grey. After the cakes came out and the songs were sung we were very happy to present him with his gifts. A book, a lovely bottle of wine and a voucher for his favourite restaurant in Brighton...the name of which now eludes me. The matinee was a slightly different experience as it was a school’s performance. I think it’s fair to say that some people can feel slightly apprehensive about these as you never quite know how an audience consisting almost entirely of younger people will respond. They were, however, a fantastic audience and it kept us in high spirits for the evening.

We made plans for drinks after the evening show to celebrate Malcolm’s day. As Sinead has to do washing after the show a few of us stayed back to hang out with her in the wardrobe and travel to the bar together. Simon was one of those staying and had a little too much fun exploring the costume store, as you can plainly see...

Simon ‘The Bear’ Llloyd gives a little salute before engaging in a
 gripping and deeply compelling imaginary dogfight

The Wolf (Peter) is not impressed…...

Now then, confession time. That evening, we cheated on The Firehouse. With a younger, hotter bar at the Bikeshed theatre. Lovely birthday drinks followed (they do smashing cocktails) and after closing time we did go slinking back, tail between our legs, to the Firehouse. They forgave us, provided us with more pizza, more booze and after I crashed again at digs which weren’t my own. This time on a comfy sofa, avec blanket.

There’s not much else to tell you about our week down by the coast-which Peter was the only person to visit. He sent out a tweet saying he slept there...I’d like to think he was joking but with Peter you never really know. After the Saturday evening show we popped our cases in the dressing rooms to be loaded into the truck for Ireland and, from what I hear, the get out was pretty smooth sailing. Again, the crushing guilt that we’re all in the pub, devouring yet more pizza while our crew slog through the delicate dismantling of our set. They are champions.

Did he really sleep here? I wouldn’t put it past him, he was Chief Scout after all...

 I ended up crashing in various places and only ended up actually sleeping in my digs once throughout the week (Wednesday-for those who weren’t paying attention. Tut tut). Surely this lack of concern about my sleeping arrangements couldn’t continue into Cork? Well, you’ll just have to read the next blog to find out.

Twitter: @1georgebanks

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.