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.

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