Day 5: Staggering To Our Feet

Today began in time-honoured fashion, with a warm-up led by Helen (Simonne). To some people's dismay this began with some running around - a little too like hard work! Nevertheless, it got us all warm and flushed which was appropriate as Mike asked us to pair off and pose in sexual positions in order to sing the Copulation round. Bucks (The Herald) and I opted for what Wikipedia conveniently informs me is called "The Piledriver" - look it up for yourself if you want the visual. My eye was drawn by this particular safety warning on the Wiki entry: "This position places considerable strain on the woman's neck, so firm cushions should be used to support her". Well, given that the nearest Habitat store is several miles away, we dispensed with the firm cushions and Bucks' neck held up pretty nicely under the circumstances.

We ploughed onward with the text, thinking each line through with meticulous care. Nico had an issue with the French name Damiens (say dam-ee-ON), his issue being that the S on the end is supposed to be silent but it kept appearing when he encountered the word. Perhaps it's proof positive that the Americans are quite a literal race - say what you see! Eventually Mike exhorted him to completely erase the S from his script and his memory. Similarly, my own intonation of 'aristocrat' (I say a-RIS-to-crat) was considered a bit too Irish and modern - AH-ris-to-crat was the agreed upon, OED version. Now, every time I encounter that word, it requires a few extra synapses to fire.

By the end of the day, Mike decided we ought to rewind a bit to the start of the play and put a little bit on its feet. HURRAH! The joy of actually standing a play up and seeing it take its first tentative steps off the page is a real rush. It was only the opening seconds - imaginary audience taking their seats, lunatics walking onstage, Coulmier saying his opening lines and that's it. Nevertheless, as we trooped into the space denoting the stage, little details emerged: I had a sheet and footbath, De Sade had his chair, the four singers looked like a gang of cheerfully murderous jesters posing centre-stage, Corday crumpled into a narcoleptic heap at the back of the stage, the various patients all had their own way of moving and exploring the room. It may not be much, but it's a start.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: ".........." - yep, quote of the day is from Mike Bradwell yet again. The only problem is, I didn't hear it. He said something undoubtedly hilarious which was followed by a couple of people saying "Quote of the day" but I, alas, wasn't eagle-eared enough to catch it. Must have been fairly unrepeatable anyway if no one would tell me what it was!