THE NORTH!!!

We are back in the north!! I love it!!

On friday Deb and I drove up to Manchester from Oxford, while Emily and Mark went south to London. I had a lovely weekend with an old friend, reminiscing, drinking and watching football! As we were leaving Macclesfield to head to Leeds on Monday, we stopped to fill up on diesel and check tyre pressures. A routine check turned into a longer delay, as I discovered a broken seal on one of the tyre valves. I had been looking at the tyre earlier in the day, thinking it looked rather flat, so it was a good thing I heard the sound of air after pumping it up! I did a quick(ish) tyre change, which the cast were most impressed with, and then we continued on to Leeds. The following morning, while workshops were being run, I located a tyre repair company close by and had a replacement valve put on, so now we are all good!

After performing in Leeds, we drove to Ingleton, on the edge of the North Yorkshire Dales, and Emily, Mark and I took the opportunity to walk up a big hill and enjoy some spectacular late afternoon views. It was breathtaking up there, and I intend to visit more summits, as I believe it good for the mind!!

Just two more days before I get back to my house, which I have missed quite sorely at points for the last 5 weeks...YOUPIII!!!

jack

SUN!!!

Having an excellent week so far, enjoying the sun whilst doing get ins and outs of lovely schools! Enjoyed some fine private school dinners, including a very tasty coq au vin at st swithums in winchester. Its Marks birthday tomorrow!! We have the morning off, so are going to brunch in Oxford before driving to our school for (hopefully) another sunny get in and out! Honestly, it was bloody gorgeous today!!

jack

Brighton Rocks!!

Hi all,

another week has passed...

last week we enjoyed shows in Woking, Eversley, Tunbridge Wells, Brighton, Caterham and Horsham. On Wednesday the school we were meant to be performing at in Brighton had a power cut, which meant a welcome but dissapointing day off!! I spent the day recording the sounds of Brighton's seafront, while the cast shopped, walked and caught up on sleep! We did a show in a great school in Caterham on friday, where I spied a very good future venue for TSF's small scale theatre shows such as La Pelota Magica. There were plenty of overhead LX bars and a very nice stage and raked seating. Earlier on in the week, we were refused entry to a staffroom in a primary school and had to wait around in the hall while teas and coffees were brought to us! Pretty odd visitor service if you ask me!!

We've just done or first show this week, which went very well. We're returning to the same school after lunch for a show to their year 5s and 6s...

jack

Les Aventures de Lapin - Tour

So, the night before our preview show at Hexham Middle School, we packed the show into the van and I drove home. Soon after leaving I realised something was wrong with the van...a loss of power meant it took me an hour and a half to get home. The show went well on friday, with lots of the people who had helped to make it coming to see it. I was slightly preoccupied by the van and the impending tour, for which I still needed to get a number of things sorted in the office. The van was taken to our mechanic Brian, who could only attempt an exploratory fix job in the short space of time he had to work with it. I spent the rest of the day sorting out petty cash and other necessaries for the weeks on the road.

On Sunday we met in Hexham before driving up through the borders to Galashiels for 3 shows over 2 days. The drive back took a very long time, as the problem with the van reoccurred. We drove it (slowly) to a Mercedes dealership in Longbenton to have it repaired. There we picked up a replacement hire vehicle, which was slightly smaller inside than our van. Somehow we managed to transfer the show into this smaller Vito, and I had to drive my own car to the venues while we used the van, as we were using some of the seat space for the set. The next week passed with a lot of good shows, great audiences and enthusiastic teachers, who really enjoyed the colourful and energetic nature of the show. We all settled into our parts well and the get ins and outs became really quick, which always makes me happy!

After exactly a week, the office received news that the problem with the company van had been solved and we drove to Longbenton to pick it up and transfer the set once again. I was glad to be back in it, as there is a lot more room for the set and ourselves and we could use the roofbox to transport our luggage instead of my car! We spent the rest of the week touring in the original van around the north east before we broke up for half term. I used this break in the tour to arrange some repair meetings with Alison, as a few props and costumes were already looking a little sorry for themselves and I took some of the more simple jobs home with me.

I drove down to Tunbridge Wells over the weekend to stay with a friend, before meeting the cast in Croydon and travelling to our first venue in Kent. That was the beginning of this week, in which we have since been based in Croydon, performing around the south west of London. Today we had a very interesting show in Kensington in a tiny hall. The get in involved a lift that could only be opened by the secretary, a front door that had to be closed when said secretary was not standing by it, and a £10 fee for parking! The show was squashed but the audience really loved it and sung along enthusiastically throughout.

I'll try and post again more frequently during the coming weeks, the tour is becoming more relaxed by the day...

Til then

Jack

Les Aventures de Lapin - Production weeks

In early December, Mark Hanly, Deb Pugh, Emily Grant and myself came together to create a new show for primary children under the direction and guidance of John and Sarah. We worked with material from the caribbean, specifically the Anansi style stories of the trickster Lapin. In these stories, Lapin plays many tricks and pranks upon a wide range of characters, mainly other animals, such as Elephant, Tiger, Horse, Whale etc etc. We spent a week turning a chosen few of these stories into a rough piece of theatre, before breaking up for christmas. We returned in January to rehearse with a beautiful set made by Alison Ashton, puppets made by Elena Miller, props sourced and made by myself and Alison and infectious songs written by Ken Patterson. John had updated the script and we spent a further two weeks rehearsing, gradually bringing the show up to scratch for a preview performance at Hexham Middle School on the Friday of the second week.