"The Roar of the Greasepaint, the smell of the crowd!" {Musical title from 1965}
Dear readers never fear Pongo and his diaries have returned
after a short hiatus. many apologies for this but as you can imagine it's been
a very busy week and in turn very tiring. Every night this week I've trundled
home and gone straight to bed without penning a few words - but don't worry -
we're back!!
So what have you been missing?! Well let me give you a run down.
Wednesday saw us finishing the tech. it was a long old day but nice to know
we finally had everything set. The problems with our mangled mangle were fixed
as suggested by our wonderful crew and all the timings for the quick changes
and slosh recoveries have been figured out. It was all starting to take real
shape by this point.
Come Thursday we were ready for our two dress rehearsals. After working a
couple of moments Gerry had issue with, got into costume make up and started
the first dress, which Brian of Fox Photography was capturing on film for us. I
can't wait to see the shots - Brian tends to get some fantastic show shots!!
Hopefully there'll be a few to use on Jamiebrook.co.uk - WHAT?!?! You haven't
visited the website.... I think you should.....! the first dress had a couple
of problems, more to do with pace and keeping the story prominent.
I somehow managed to swallow a massive gob of shaving foam in the slosh
scene. i couldn't believe it, I took a massive gasp and inhaled said gob,
prompting much gagging and spluttering mid scene. Funnily enough the exact same
thing happened the last time I was here. Believe me it's not a nice feeling
having foam down your windpipe!
I personally thought the second dress was a lot better, and I managed to get
through without swallowing any more foam.
Thankfully, although a little raw from all the coughing, my voice held
out… it was home to rest with a bit of a steam and a healthy dose of port &
brandy!! Purely medicinal of course! The nerves were starting to really kick in
by this point though… we’ve had this stuff down for so long now – without an
audience, we tend to forget if we’re funny or not. There is of course a sure fire way of judging
your funniness – the imminent opening show audience!
In they spilled on Friday, our first 14:30 show – minus Abanazer! Kit was off doing his annual comedy gig for
Prince Charles with comedy legends such as Ronnie Corbett & Jimmy Tarbuck to
name but two! I would have loved to have
seen the show – unfortunately it’s an invited audience and more importantly – I
had my own show to be getting on with!!!
It went ok I think. Very quiet
audience and there were still a couple of points that seemed to have stickiness
to them, but we got through the first one and got the much needed
laughter. For Pongo I don’t think the
audience warmed to him as I’d have hoped, so made a couple of self-imposed
notes to try and win them over quicker!
Thankfully for the opening night performance – in front of the Lady
Mayor of Guildford – I felt a little nicer!!
Although there was a comment or two that I was a bit nasty and vicious
with my truncheon to start with!
We had a lovely moment, where Joe reacted to a bash on the head a little
late.
“That was a bit delayed!” I said getting a nice titter. If things like that are happening in show two
– it’s a good sign that we’ll be having a few laughs with each other as we settle
in and develop the show.
Afterwards, I jumped into my whistle and flute, for the function, laid on by
the Arnaud management. I was greeted by
some old faces from my ushering days, who were eager to know if I remembered
them. Such a warming feeling to be
remembered back! The annual crew party has been postponed to Sunday night
instead this year (the night before our day off) so we all tootled over to the
Brit for a little gathering! Such fun
was had by all – especially with the relief of finally being OPEN!!!
Best wishes and "We'll see you on the Green!"
PONGO
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