Monday, August 17, 2009

Clippy's log - page 23

11/8 8am. Last day of rehearsals. Let's be early in case there's some planning of bump-in etc.

9am. Here we all are again. No "former triumphs" joke please, it's been done to death. Rehearsals are getting a bit more stressed but not to Patience 2007 levels by any means. A few last minute t-shirt and raffle sales keep us busy. The run is stopped every now and then and it's highly amusing to hear people drop out of character and back into their own accents to speak to the director and MD. Most obvious is Julia from German to American, but some of the English to English ones are interesting too. A few people have bugs of various kinds, hopefully they clear up before tomorrow evening.

4:10pm. Announcements about tomorrow. I take careful notes. Savoynet shows are amazing - so many people that do the work! Even a few people helping with makeup (which is provided by the company)!

4:55pm. 45 minutes of notes and announcements! Now let's clean the place up. Angie has prepared slips of paper each with a job written on it. First the eight top prinnies (the ones in the front row of the wedding procession at the end) are told to clean the toilets, then everyone else gets handed a "normal" job.

5:25pm. And the clean up is done! All furniture returned to its place, all props packed into crates and stacked in one place, carpet "hoovered", all belongings packed and the kitchen tidied up. Amazing.

5:40pm. Home again. What's the show tonight? Youth production of Patience. Probably worth seeing, and certainly something to encourage, but between an intensive rehearsal season and Hell Day (ie Hell Week compressed into one day) it's probably not a good idea. Some Looney Tunes and then an early night.

12/8 8am. Here we go! Pack useful stuff and fun stuff (eg camera) and get over there.

9:05am. The truck is already being unloaded as we arrive, so the boys jump right in. I get shoved into Rosuav's backpack but I know I'll be called if any notes need to be taken. I can observe everything happening anyway.

9:30am. Everything is unloaded and the crew are assembling the set. They're canvas flats not ply, and narrower than the ones we use at home, so they can be manhandled by one person. The boys don't know this technique and have to learn it. Luckily they soon get allocated to putting down a floor - screwing sheets of masonite (with a painted cobblestone pattern) to the stage. Screw guns work the same everywhere, and the boys soon show the SM they've been good crew members before.

11am. Act 1 is up, now it's time for a crew tea break - this one is as unionised as the orchestra. A few of them are fairly offensive about it too. The boys decide to steer clear of one or two of the crew members in particular and deal only with Keith the SM and the various Savoynetters in the crew who were at rehearsals. While the crew have their lunch break the cast can use the stage to check their entrances and exits.

11:40am. By stretching the crew's break slightly Gary has managed to get all of Act 1 walked through. The crew take down one set of flats and put up another - it looks like being an intensive interval.

1pm. Act 2 is up so everyone goes for lunch. The cast have to be back by 2pm to get into costume, ready for a 2:30 run. The run is a combination of sitz, tech and all the DRs - if I hadn't known it had been done many, many times before I would have said it's impossible.

2pm. Here we are once more on the... oops I didn't want to say that one. The boys and I spend most of the time in the auditorium watching the show. Midga completely fills the second 2GB camera memory card, leaving a 512MB and a 32MB. Contrary to predictions the set change goes just fine, not too long at all.

5:30pm. Just time for some dinner. Midga has sugar deprivation and goes to Aldi for some provisions, while Rosuav takes his first turn at cooking for both boys since leaving Australia.

6:20pm. Eat up, time to go soon! Why does shopping take so long? It's all the protocol baggage of crossing the road, waiting in queue, climbing two sets of stairs etc.

6:40pm. All ready, let's go!

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