Wine-ding up for the main event

It is a long time.... I know it is a long time between blogs, but as we draw ever closer to the show, there's no time for me to draw breath, let alone have time to sit and write for you lovely lot.

Let's catch up shall we? Last week we had a mixed bag. Monday was a Monday like pretty much all the others, only worse. It was only when we got into Act 2 and reran Act 1 that we all started to feel our parts again (and that's not feeling our body parts, that's our roles - thought I should clear that up before I got emails of complaint). It was possibly the fact that everyone was overwhelmed by the site of the fantastic art that Evremonde and I created or that it was Monday - and who likes Mondays? I seem to recall a very famous song about the crapness of Mondays, so maybe we're just sensitive souls with the Boomtown Rats in our subconscious brains (I was going to put Psyche but I couldn't think how to spell it).

Thursday however, was magnificent. It was like we all discovered the show again. We had costume (and everyone looks great), we had tears (from several of us actually - Lucie strikes again) and we had the press (see pictures in the local papers out this Thursday).

This weekend, Director Guillotine and I were mostly decorating our bathroom and loo, but stopped to have a takeaway (and SEVERAL bottles of wine) with Lucie and Defarge AND we still put together the programme!!! Aren't we clever children?

So, what is there still to do? I still need to source a few props, I have some more wine bottles - er, yes after the weekend I seem to have one or two - I need to make a sack for Mr Lorry (not big enough to put him in, one for him to carry). Now I have visions of Mr Lorry in a sack with rope tied round the top and Director Guillotine is wondering why I am giggling to myself! And there needs to be some hemming on courtroom robes (as Attorney General is not as tall as you might think) and Seamstress' dress needs to be taken up so she doesn't trip up the stairs. So sewing will take place when the lights are going up on Sunday - just when I thought I was finished with the sewing!

Thursday is our last rehearsal before dress (which is a performance as we have people paying to see it), which is a little bit scary when you think about it for too long so I won't....

It's art Dahlink....

South West Trains, how I do hate thee - let me count the ways....

I swear that the train station I have the misfortune to use daily, has the most unhelpful staff in the history of people working at train stations and that it is on the employment form that they are under no circumstances to have any kind of customer service skills. I also believe that they are actually pleased when people miss their trains - honest, I'm positive of it. Let me explain what happened today:
I arrive at the station 15 minutes before my train leaves to buy a travelcard and a car park ticket. The queue of people buying tickets is out of the door so I go to the machines outside to see if I could get a car park ticket from the machine (I can't), I then ask the evil Scottish woman (I'll explain in a minute why she's evil) if she could help me with the little hand held machine so that I could buy the tickets and still be in time to catch my train. She makes me wait until all the people getting off the previous train have gone through the gate before coming out to the main machine and saying to me "Can you buy car parking tickets here? Oh no you can't you'll have to queue" So I am finally served by the slow lady, who is ssssssssssssslllllllllllllllooooooooooowwww 4 minutes before my train arrived and I still had to park my car. So I missed my train and the station staff laughed (I swear I heard them) and had to stand in the cold for half an hour till the next one came - and I left my gloves at home, so, not a good start to the week....

However, I must now do some luvvy gushing about my wonderful set build team of yesterday.

The set looks fantastic, the artistic department (Evremonde and me, and a little help from Defarge) painted the set. Evremonde's vision has now come to life and we are going to sell it to the Tate modern or the Saatchi bloke (who's wife Evremonde would like to cook for him - among other things) as it is a work of art. We did good.

The Construction Department did a sterling job as well, creating some safe platforms for us to fight on and in front of, they put the guillotine in place and did some other stuff as well (I think). Carton brought with him his tool pouch which is the power tools version of the "pencil case".

The Painting department painted everything that didn't move for a couple of minutes, but we used no black paint - did we Evremonde?

Leaflets were distributed by Mr Lorry and peasant girl and Mr Lorry got lost (as he does normally during a leaflet distribution I seem to remember) as did Director Guillotine and his helpers.

Astoundingly enough we have only one small job left to do and we are still two weeks away! AND from a Producer Guillotine perspective, the set cost us £34.48 for two pots of paint, that wasn't black....

The pictures don't lie

I need to explain a couple of things readers; One of these things is about Evremonde.

He thinks that I pick on him and don't say wonderful things about him in this here blog. This is a lie. I am always saying how great he is.

He thinks that I laugh at his pencil case. This is also a lie. I covet it and just might steal it when he's not looking (just don't tell him, right?)

When I joined the group, Evremonde was the first person I spoke to (and I still came back) so he holds a very special place in my heart. Add to this that he is not only a very talented actor but an amazing artist as well and what's not to like? He is also funny and smart and dresses well with nice cardians, but I don't want his head to get too big....

The other thing is about me. I am tired. I have a busy job. My whole life outside work revolves around this show.

Box Office came to my house the other day to collect the tickets and I (very kindly) made her a cup of tea. Director Guillotine arrived home and said hello and started talking to me about the show. Box Office jokingly asked us if we ever talked about anything else, well, the truth of it is we don't at the moment, not really. Director Guillotine remarked to me last night actually how much easier it was to Direct when the Producer lives with you. Perhaps this should be a pre-requisite in the future - if you want to Produce a show for someone, you have to move in with them for a few months.

We have just 3 more rehearsals until the tech. Nervy. We are clearly far ahead of the game with the show, but Director Guillotine now wants us to "get serious". This means, no smacking people in the head as you walk off stage, no silly dances, no taking off and buckling down on lines. The cast need to relax into their roles and the words will come. You all know you know them. We now have a prompt - I shall call her Prompt (original huh?) who is learning the show and fell apart completely at the end of Act 2 Scene 9, like we all do. Well done Lucie.

I have also given everyone in the cast a target number of tickets to sell. If everybody sells 10 tickets we will have a superb audience, plus the fact that there is always a prize for the person who sells the most tickets and at the moment I will be giving that to Director Guillotine and that really can't happen now guys can it? We have an amazing show, full of drama, emotion and some damn fine acting. Be proud and get people to come see it, it will be worth every penny.

Darnay also sent me the other "Death of Darnay the Minkey" pictures which I will attach to the bottom here and will see you after another lovely set build on Sunday. Let's hope it doesn't rain....

Set Build and Sarnies

So the washing machine saga goes on. We have a new one. It doesn't work properly. I wouldn't joke with Director Guillotine about it - you could be on very dangerous ground....

Speaking of Dangerous, he and his good lady wife (Char lady) came to stay with us on Saturday night. I cooked. Well I heated. And managed to burn an Apple Pie.

Yesterday was our first set build and we had a small, but incredibly dedicated, crew, who worked their socks off from the start and we achieved great things! The walk out is up. Titanic is up. The back and side flats are undercoated, ready for me to paint next weekend. Char lady supplied everyone with bacon sarnies, innumerable cups of tea and her and Security guy went to Tesco and provided us all with lunch. In addition to all this she also joined the sewing circle and helped me out a load, so many, many thanks for that.

The boys worked very hard and Director Guillotine supervised, once he had returned from collecting the guillotine, which is fabulous and will provide Set Man with a whole load of stuff to do next week. There was much rudeness from some of the boys (you know who you are) but we were seriously outnumbered in the blokes to girls ratio so it was inevitable really, boys will be boys I suppose.

The girls (all three of us) formed a sewing circle and stayed in the main hall instead of going into room 1 - in the spirit of togetherness. Peasant Girl was a stellar help, cutting strips of fabric for me to sew together for revolutionary sashes. There's still loads of work to do for those so I know what I'm going to be doing tomorrow night....

2p or not 2p?

I know, get me. It's Saturday and I'm blogging. It is a first (and possibly a last).

Thursday's rehearsal was great for several reasons:

1. We had almost a full cast - I don't think I've ever seen so many revolutionaries on the stage together - minus Lucie and Defarge who are still in the land down under.
2. Director Guillotine and I managed to arrive early (mostly a struggle as I work quite a way away and South West Trains don't seem to like me very much).
3. Sound man was down to talk publicity with me. He has spoken to the editors of all the local papers (and some not quite so local) who are going to write a piece on the play from the perspective on having someone from their area in the show.
4. Most people are now without scripts which means Director Guillotine can work on the Directing side of things (which makes him quite happy).
5. Peasant Girl has recovered from her spectacular acrobatics of Monday and was trooping through like a good 'un, with no visible bruising!
And some other things that I have conveniently forgotten.

I continue to surprise, throwing and hitting Evremonde, although he has been providing me with 2p's which are much easier to throw, which, when you consider I'm throwing them at him is quite kind isn't it?. Strypard and I thought we were in the money as we had a whole 18p thrown at us, not bad for a days work. Evremonde also created two new "death of Darnay the Minkey" pictures which Darnay did take photos of which I wanted to attach to this blog but he hasn't sent them to me, so maybe the next one.

I've been standing in for Lucie so that the cast have a person to play to rather than a voice from across the room and I have to apologise for losing it during one particular scene. You see, Darnay cracks a joke to Miss Pross, Dr Manette and Mr Lorry and then they're all supposed to laugh - except they didn't. This meant that Darnay ended up laughing at his own joke which looked so sad and made me lose it completely.

Director Guillotine was pleased with this performance, especially from Carton (I completely agree by the way) and from our answer to Alan Rickman, except for the song and dance routine with the cane....

Taking a leak....

Ever have one of those days? Well I think I'm having one of those weeks....

A busy weekend prevented me from blogging after Thursdays rehearsal last week, which, with hindsight, was probably a good thing for reasons best left alone. Suffice it to say that it was a good rehearsal with lots of folk dropping scripts prior to Monday's deadline! Great stuff.

Monday was a different story. We had three revolutionaries absent. One of our flag bearers was late so we waited to start rehearsal for her to arrive, which she did at around 9pm. Some others of the cast were also late so it felt a little disjointed and I think there was a bad Monday cloud hanging over lots of us.

Peasant Girl did a most spectacular somersault (this is acting not gymnastics) landing on her knees and headbutting the door (it's okay, there's no damage to the door). When icing her knees she then revealed that she had been in a car accident that day and had come from the hospital (now that's commitment!!!)!!! I think she's okay now though although she'll probably stay away from the scary Evremonde for a while.

The second act gained a bit more momentum than the first, I think we'd all relaxed a little more into it by then. Luckily we have a 2 hour show so we managed to run straight through to the end, although we have a strict 8pm start on Thursday!

Last night, Director Guillotine and I were going to have a production meeting to go through the minutes of our last meeting and see what was outstanding, draw up a props list and sort out what the plan is for Sunday's set build. However, the best laid plans and all that....

I'd better give you some background information. We have a leak. Not bodily, but under our sink in the kitchen. And the washing machine keeps retaining water, so we have done no washing for about 5 days. Director Guillotine has been saying for a couple of weeks that he was going to call a plumber to come and have a look at it, instead of just mopping up the mess, so yesterday we have a date with the plumber. He comes and spends three hours at our house and goes away. Only for us to discover that we have a leak from a different place and the other leak is still leaking (no, I'm not joking). We decide that as we are running short of clothes, we need to do some washing so Director Guillotine puts the washing machine on and it finally gives up the ghost completely, covering the kitchen floor in water. Now, Director Guillotine has a habit of trying to hurt inanimate objects if they upset him and I am certain that he would have launched the washing machine up the garden had he been able to lift it (ask him about the "Strimmer" incident to elaborate on his launching things). So we now need a new washing machine.

Anyway we got the plan for Sunday finished and the props list which I now need to distribute to all and I updated the minutes whilst Director Guillotine was sloshing around in the kitchen. Let's hope the later half of this week improves....

Empty Chairs at Empty Tables

I think everyone had the Monday blues on Monday night as we were VERY thin on the ground!!! Obviously Lucie and Defarge are on their hols, Mr Lorry was called to a meeting so couldn't make it and Carton ran out of juice (well, not him, his car), we had a peasant missing, Barsad was working late and a revolutionary was absent so there were people standing in for others all over the place; which could have been very confusing had we not all been complete professionals. I thought perhaps we could have a video or a conference call and then we could have everyone doing their own parts, wherever they are.

We've had our first two tickets sold - well done to one of our revolutionaries - he will win a prize (although I'm not yet sure what that prize will consist of). I must just add (to prevent further outcries from Director Guillotine) that yes, I know you have reserved two tables Director Guillotine, and yes that is 16 tickets but you haven't paid for them and revolutionary has!!! So you can't have the prize.

My practise at throwing things has obviously helped as I hit Evremonde first time, although I must admit that he was quite close as Strypard (not Stryvard apparently) hadn't moved across quite far enough. However, in my mind, a hit is a hit - I'll keep practising.... On the subject of Stryvard, he has done exceedingly well and knows his words! Astounding work there, as his scene with Barsad is quite a tricky one - the two of them have worked hard on that and we can see it's paying off already. Well done to you both. Peasant Girl also did very well with her lines and with the flag bearing and twirling with Seamstress - looking good girls, great timing now.

Darnay was encouraged to "take Gabelle first" which I think I saw him do, although he did get away with not having to kiss him, even though it's the French thing to do and I wouldn't take it personally Gabelle.

Evremonde, despite his cries of outrage at the mickey taken out of his pencil case, showed me another addition to this little collection of art equipment, that I hadn't seen before. He has little pot with an eraser and a pencil sharpener inside (along with a few pencil shavings). Upon closer inspection, this pot came from Boots and once contained setting lotion. Evremonde explained that he had had this pot since 1981 - ah, bless! He had hair to put setting lotion on then....