La Pelota Magica hits the road

Helooooooooo,

since last posting, Islands successfully played four shows in Cyprus, to great and full audiences. I returned to Hexham, immediately to begin rehearsals of La Pelota Magica with Shona Wright as LX Stage Manager and a cast of Paddy Burton, Angel Aguacil and Xela Marx. Rehearsals were hectic, as Xela hadn't done the show before and the rest of us have pretty bad memories!! Luckily John and Sarah always use a DVD for reference when reworking past shows, so we were able to see what happened last time!! I really enjoyed getting back behind the set where it all began for me with TSF...two years ago I was fresh faced and recently graduated from Goldsmiths University of London with a 2:1 in Music. Shona and I have picked up where we left off (we are a cracking team) and I'm so pleased to be able to speak with Angel and Xela much better than I could two years ago...Those intensive 10 days with Dimas in Cyprus really got my Spanish up to speed again.

I hear from John that Islands went well in Tenerife...I am quite disappointed that I couldnt be part of it, but I'm sure I'll get opportunities to work on it again in the future. It is a good show that is getting better.

Right now we are in the middle of our 4 weeks on the road, currently in Banbury. A week ago Shona developed a nasty cough and slowly but surely we have all been taken down with her. She is still suffering, and I have been constantly attached to a roll of toilet paper since yesterday afternoon!! Paddy, Xela and Angel have all been unwell too, but to a lesser degree (a good job too as they're the performers) Thankfully our schedule hasn't been too hectic while we've been ill...our two weeks in the north east were much more full on. We have an epic drive on Friday, from Thetford, Suffolk to Stirling, for which we're very much hoping to have recovered from the bug...

hasta luego

Jack

PIra, Pira, Pira

Hi,

I've been very busy since last posting...

Throughout July I organised the shipping of the Islands set to Cyprus, through the very friendly but uncommunicative Andreas Shipping Co. I spent a day making some very sturdy boxes to transport some of the props, of which I am immensely proud!! I was in constant contact with Nicoleta Kalatha, the most hardworking person I think I've ever met, who organised our tour of Cyprus (as well as creating all the brilliant videos in the show). I sent her the lighting plans, tech details and much more, also sending these documents to Carlos Belda for the Tenerife leg of the tour.

In mid July we took Contes Dores for a spin for two days, performing two shows in Norwich at a primary language teachers conference, before driving to Alnwick to perform at a primary languages festival for children from schools in Northumberland. Both gigs went down very well, and we had the pleasure of welcoming back Geraldine, who devised and performed in the original version many moons ago.

I also got on with preparing our next show for touring, La Pelota Magica, which involved a lot of disinfecting and washing, as mice have taken a shine to the store...everything is very clean now, and mouse deterrents are installed in the store - I had to evict a family from a box of shoes, which was pretty upsetting, but I had no choice if I wanted to avoid completely re-propping the whole show!

In early August I somewhat nervously said goodbye to the Islands set, as it was picked up by Andrews Shipping Co and sent to Cyprus...two weeks of anxious waiting ensued, before I received confirmation that it had arrived at the theatre in Cyprus from Nicoleta.

I took two weeks of well earned holiday, enjoying lie ins and the banal but thoroughly satisfying task of repairing my car and getting it through its MOT.

And on the 29th of August I left Newcastle for Paphos, Cyprus with Becky Jameson to begin our Cyprus tour of Islands. I am writing from my hotel room, at1am, having just finished our final run through before the dress rehearsal tomorrow morning. We open tomorrow evening, with the director Franzi having made a number of changes to the show. New scenes have been added, existing scenes moved, and new features also, which is challenging but also satisfying as I can see a more logical and easy to understand piece developing.

I've been passing my knowledge of the show on to Dimas Cedres, the lighting technician, who will be managing the show without me in Tenerife. Thus he must know everything I know about the show before we part ways...Again, I'm delighted to be able to speak spanish, as his english is not as fluent as my spanish, and I've learnt lots of new words, such as pulea, which means pulley...etc etc!!

It's going very well, considering the heat (which is almost unbearable in the tech box), the fairly confusing changes Franzi has made to the order, and the short time span in which we've been working to...two days tech, two days rehearsals. I'm delighted to be working with Franzi and Nicoleta again, as they are such nice people and have so much experience and knowledge from which I can learn...

So tomorrow we open, and Saturday morning I (hopefully) get a lie in and some time to see Nicosia, as I have nowhere but the theatre and the hotel yet!!! Aaaah well, such is the life of a stage manager...I wouldn't change it for the world though...I really do love theatre!!!


Ok, I'm going to sleep now as the big day is tomorrow.


Until next time


Jack

not enough hours in our day

As thew lead singer of Gomez once said, "there aren't enough hours in our day". Just about how I feel...

All is good in the technical world of TSF. Islands came and went, with lots of stress, enjoyment, elation and sadness all bundled into 9 shows! The cast, crew and office staff really worked hard, together to make a really good show. The audiences laughed, probably wept, and gasped at the realities exposed in the show and everyone had a really good time!

Since then I've taken time off to work for my parents' company, thanks for that TSF! Following a two week break, I was back in the store, preparing the Contes Dores set for its summer tour. A lot of the props had fallen victim to a group of ravenous and crafty mice, which meant a lot of disinfecting, hand washing, sewing, respraying etc etc etc...the usual then...after a very busy weekend it was all ready for the start of rehearsals, and John took over Paddy's roles as Madame Griselde and the king.

The tour went very well, although it was uncomfortably hot in many of the school halls we visited. As well as clashing with a heat wave, the World Cup was taking place...for any of you who haven't met me, I love the World Cup, so I religiously watched as many games as I could, in hotel rooms, hotel bars, hotel lobbys etc etc etc!!!

That tour finished last week, and this week I've been taking some holiday as well as beginning to sort the store, which has been needing a good tidy for a while...I might even run into those mice again!!!


til next time...

Jack

Two weeks

Shockingly belated ISLANDS gossip!!

RIGHT, since I last posted, our most recent production Islands has opened, toured and finished! If I wasn't so completely and utterly involved in it I may have posted a few more words during April, but my head was very full of stage directions, music cues, possible props, definite props, positions of chairs and much more!!

So I'm gonna do a series of posts about the production...this one is about the rehearsals.

It was in at the deep end for me...I finished touring Contes Dores, had a weekend off, then went straight into rehearsals with the rest of the Islands crew. They had been rehearsing for a week already, and I was pretty confused by it all in the first week. There were so many new names, new languages and new faces, not to mention the big script and never ending list of props that was passed my way!

Myself and Craig, the production manager, dealt with the props list admirably however, and by the tech week we had found everything on the list, or made it. I was working the late shift, from 2 til 10, which was tiring, but allowed me to stay up late with my nocturnal student brother who was visiting for easter! We ran a dress rehearsal/run through on each Thursday night to round off the week, and I could see the show coming together week after week. This was an ambitious project and I remember feeling slightly worried during the first week that it would appear very self-centered from the outside. But with each weeks run through, the stories of each character became more concise and clear and my questions and misgivings were answered.

The composer, Juani Belda, came from Madrid in the third week to play us some of his compositions. It breathed new life into my perception of the show and I then realised that the same effect would take place when I saw it with the video projection as well. Craig and I tried to get a projector up and running for the final run through in rehearsals, but the blackout in the church hall was insufficient, or perhaps it was the tiny projector trying to blast out some big images...whichever, we wouldnt see it all together until the first dress rehearsal.

So, that was a potted history of Islands rehearsals...tune in for the next installment: Tech week

Jack

New show!!

Hi all.

I am currently rehearsing TSF's new collaborative show Islands, which opens at the Queen's Hall, Hexham on the 22nd April. Rehearsals are going well; my hours are 1.30 - 10 most days. Its the first time i've done late(ish) shifts and I like them a lot. It wasn't so long ago I was a student doing fairly similar hours!! Although it's amazing how quickly I'd settled into a 9 - 5 routine!

I've been helping the production manager, the great Craig Davidson, gather props and costumes, order set parts, and generally bring the technical side of the show together. It has been fun...I've made contacts in the south Scottish milk industry, discovered the wonders of Oxfam's online shop and observed the rigorous and thorough work the cast and director do. During the show I will be manning the sound desk and the projection of video.

Today I went to pick up Juan Belda, the composer, from Newcastle airport. He has just arrived from Madrid and we had a very nice talk on the way back to Hexham. I can see I'm going to get lots of opportunities to speak more spanish in the coming weeks!! YAY!!!

hasta luego

Jack

Finally...some internet and time!

Hi all,

We are in our last week of Contes Dores in the beautiful town of Harrogate. The show is going very well; our pack up time has quickened to 30 mins where needed and the kids are as enthusiastic as ever!

Since I last posted we enjoyed a week in Wokingham and Reading, performing to a variety of year groups in some lovely schools. We performed at a secondary school, which is always a bit nervy due to the quite childish nature of the show, but we were very well recieved there and it was much better than when we visited the same school last year. This was followed by a friday gig in the uber-picturesque village of Ewelme, south Oxfordshire. The school was amazing...it was like a castle; all nooks, crannies and mysterious corridors! Unfortunately their hall was really small, so we performed in the village hall just down the road. The kids and teachers really enjoyed the show and I think the whole school came to see it, which was nice, as you can always count on 6 year olds to get the crowd going!!

The following week we went to stay in Cambridge with Emilys mum Shona, and had a lovely time catching up with her. Shona came to Tunisia to spend christmas with Emily and we all had a great time with her out there. She cooked us some fab food, which always makes me happy! After staying with Shona we did a strange day in a town near Bedford, performing a great show in the morning to a really nice primary school, before moving next door for an afternoon show in a middle school. It was supposed to be for a teachers conference, but only 10 showed up, so some year 6s got brought in and were a bit confused by it all as they hadn't done any prep work on the story or vocab in the show...plus we were in a corner a cavernous sports hall! The teachers did enjoy it a lot though...we could hear them laughing throughout and the kids even managed to learn the choruses to the songs by the end of the show, so it was a success! We then went to do a show in Stretford, Manchester, which was very good. Lots of visiting primary schools came and really enjoyed themselves. This was followed by a show in Northwich at a high school with more visiting primaries.

Then I got to go home...yay!! We were away for 4 weeks and I had missed the north quite a lot...I was really chuffed to be back in the cold, dank grimness of Sunniside once again!

We have just finished a very rowdy show in our first school in Harrogate. They saw the show two years ago, before I was in it, and enjoyed it again!

After this week I begin rehearsals for Islands, which opens in Hexham on the 22nd April. I'm looking forward to being back in a theatre...not that I dont enjoy primary schools; there is always a great camaraderie to be found in the staff room, but I find there is much less mashed potato on the stage than in the school hall!!

hasta luego

Jack

Quick networky post...

Hello to any readers of The Courier who are visiting this page after the article in the paper on Monday. Although there wasn't enough space in the article, we'd love for you all to become fans of us on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hexham-United-Kingdom/Theatre-Sans-Frontieres/132121159401 and/or follow us on Twitter - http://twitter.com/theatresansf

We are touring at the end of next month, and these will be good ways to stay in touch with us and see what we're up to! Of course, you can find all our tour dates, locations, information about previous shows and so on at http://www.tsf.org.uk

Thanks,


Stu