It was the best of days, it was the worst of days. More rain made it worst, great fun in the rehearsal room made it best. So many apparently mature people, yet so many innuendos and double-entendres that we all needed a cup of tea, a dose of smelling salts and a lie down well before we actually stopped at midday. Tube delays had led to some people being late, not a great start, but the head of steam we had built up by day's end was pretty impressive. It was, by necessity, one of those days when we had to do lots of little things, with Mike taking principles aside to talk through the rather lengthy passages towards the end of the play and Andrea and crew disappearing off for half an hour at a time and returning with a full song learnt. Meanwhile Joe and Hayley, our new stagehand cum rubber-apron-wearing nurse, would occasionally present new props and costume pieces.
The highlight of the day was, without doubt, playing with the massive cartoon heads and puppets in the National Assembly scene. One of the actor's most basic pitfalls is corpsing - laughing onstage -, something which I've only rarely suffered in the past. However there is something irresistibly funny about a couple of benches heaving with rowdy puppets and papier-maché heads, all shouting out rude remarks, clapping their little hands or just generally making silly noises and, even with my back to them, I could not help but laugh at the slightest thing. God only knows how funny it will be to look at - hopefully very. Only the audience will be able to judge that. One of the sweeter moments of the day involved Helen (Simonne) making a little finger puppet of her own - bless her, the big puppets are too scary for Simonne but she wanted to join in!
The Copulation Round was beautifully choreographed by Mike, with input from some suddenly very enthusiastic actors - there was a certain disappointment when the scissoring position was dismissed as being "too difficult to sing through". We managed to reach out and touch the end of the play, a scene which involves Leonie "acting from her lady-garden", Stuart giving us the full Ardoyne Experience and the audience being kettled by the actors. All we need are a few burning cars, a defaced cenotaph and a fire extinguisher and we might actually cause some proper civil unrest. As it is, the ending will hopefully be exciting to watch - it's certainly exciting being in the midst of it. It's also exciting getting to the end of the play at last - there are plenty more places where it needs to go still but it's on the right track.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Robbie, poke her when it comes up". Another epic stage direction from Mike B.
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