h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Tonight, I will be playing my own compositions in the Lyric Theatre, in association with the Royal Shakespeare Society.

Ok, ok, I was recently drafted into the Greenwood Consort, which provides the live music for an amateur dramatics society doing a play as part of the RSC Open Stages project, and we've written a second part for one of the songs.

It will be....interesting. For one thing, we now have more musicians than parts - one on theorbo, one on viol, and two of us on recorder (so we'll also be alternating on percussion.) I managed to sneak the chalumeau in, too, but they refuse to let me play spoons.

It's an excellent play, and we've got the best seats in the house for watching it. But we won't have much time for that - good thing we saw it yesterday for our first and only practice together We discovered that our glorious leader suffers from terrible stage fright and sometimes just freezes up rather than playing, that she sometimes can't play because she's acting in some scenes as well, and that they suddenly wanted us to add a few more pieces! Luckily, the other recorder player (a friend of my sister's bumming around Ireland for a year who suddenly found himself recruited) is good at sight reading, which I'm definitely not. So he can do those bits. Meanwhile, he's awful at playing by ear or from memory, so I'll do the parts requiring that.

If you don't hear from me by this time tomorrow, please assume I've been run over by a stampede of overdramatic actors...

any seats left in the house?

What kind of theatre people frown upon playing spoons anyway? Tch.

I am *so* impressed Mala, what a pity it's so far from me otherwise I would be buying a ticket next to KB to applaud.

Me too

And now I even have a speaking part We've just been instructed to shout "Hail, King of Scotland" at one point. Three times, even, not sure that's not too difficult for me...

Kewl!

Can you wear your lucky stripey socks?


lil x

Oh wow - well done. Can we watch it on line?

What is the play, by the way?

"Hail king of Scotland"? Aha! So *that's* why you kept calling it "the Shakespeare thing at the Lyric" rather than naming the play!

Actually, it's just the best scenes from various plays cobbled together into one. Virtually all the fight scenes, the bit where Caliban gets uppity, Orlando's poetry, the rude mechanicals' play, and a few other odds and ends.

My favourite Shakespeare quote is from Edmund in King Lear: "now, gods stand up for b'stards". Having been called a wee b'stard many's the time, I think it's only fair that someone should stand up for us!

with it!

Break a leg.

One of my live musical highlights, ever, was seeing Sam Spoons, live in a small venue, playing the spoons live on stage, and being electricuted... Every stage act should involve playing of the spoons

Survived it, and the actors, at least, were great...

Our big moment came at the end, when we were asked to play the last song "a few more times" until the house lights went down. 27 repetitions later, it finally got dark.

Nobody ever wants to hear "Sweet Oliver" again, and that includes the audience. We did our best to add a bit of variety, but there's only so much you can do.

Highlight of the day, however, was the actor who was meant to be reciting "Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day", forgetting his lines, and constantly interrupting himself with an "oh crap" or something even more filther-prone...

Wish I'd been there. Sounds like a riot!

TRiG.

Sounds almost yet not entirely like the Danish theatre troupe "The Loyal Shakespeare Company"

It was actually quite far from being loyal to old man Shakespeare. The word 'loyal' was chosen because it sounds almost like the Danish word 'løjerlig' (as in odd and/or funny)

It only took three guys to play 'Rome and Juliet' in the streets of our cities and nobody would have been surprised if they had used spoons

The audience would probably have been more surprised had they recognized the play, now filled to the rim with sexual inuendos

Now? Shakespeare was a master of innuendo!

I assume there must be spoon playing whilst riding a

No, on a you play coconuts!

They want to do it again in June - for midsummer. Unfortunately, there are two other events I'm already trying to decide between that weekend. Choices, choices...