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

If my eyebrows are any guide, it won't take long for them to grow back and I'm sure nobody will notice. No blokes anyway

I used to have a pair of padded cycling shorts They protected my bottom beautifully from a very small bicycle seat

Hyp, I may be playing a dead character, but this is countered by Marley's manic energy, his glee at upbraiding his former partner. So, dramatically, I am not whispering like a feeble invalid at Death's door.

For the benefit of those up in the Gods*, as one of the principals, I will also be wearing a radio mic, which will amplify as much as necessary to ensure adequate audibility. So, technically, I should also be easy to hear.

Haricot, although I said cycle shorts what has been lent to me is actually more what you would imagine a weightlifter wearing - still padded, but with shoulder straps and extending to just above the knee. Apparently it won't ride up like cycle shorts can do. I haven't yet worn it while in my flyiong harness.

*The Gods, if you are at all unfamiliar with theatres, are the seats highest in the theatre, above the dress circle and boxes, well above the stalls. Looking at the seating plan and virtual tour (http://www.gov.im/villagaiety/tour/gaiety.htm) the Theatre calls this area either the Upper Circle or the Gallery and Amphitheatre. I have sat in the Gods in the Gaiety and I am sure was closer to the stage than when I sat near the back of the stalls in a London theatre seeing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Until all seats in the dress circle and stalls are sold the theatre won't open the Gods on any night (it means they need to arrange more staff to supervise).

So far we have prebookings accounting for well over 3/4 total capacity of the run (a good audience for every show ), with the Gods open for over half of the performances so far.

It was our last night at the rehearsal rooms last night, and from now we will be rehearsing in the theatre. Much has been drummed into us by the director about how technically difficult this show is, and how much effort will be needed to cope with the transition from the rehearsal rooms. In addition to the flying there will be snow falling and cunningly directed smoke (one character disappears behind a wall of smoke). Also there are literally *tons* of costumes. Six racks of costumes were visible at the rehearsal rooms yesterday. That is the contents of one 'skip', eleven more skips are due

The assistant director was tearing her hair out trying to accommodate the cast and all the costumes backstage. Eventually a storage room under the stage was cleared - it has no large lit mirrors or sink, but apparently is cooler than the sauna-like dressing rooms above. Some of the cast have as many as eight costumes (I fortunately only have one ). I can see myself having to assist others in some of their quick changes (as I am only in two scenes myself). We were told our dressing room assignments, and those with fewer cast in the rooms were told not to feel priveliged as they would definitely not have much room once their costumes shared the space.

Since last year the theatre management have got far stricter on what is allowed in dressing rooms, and so no food is allowed, and only bottled water to drink (not even flavoured). What am I going to do with the tins of Quality Street I purchased to have in the dressing room?

No sweets in the dressing rooms? At least the bugs will brighten everywhere up.

Flying sounds...interesting. I hope the padded shorts help eliminate chafing etc.

Speaking from experience, all help given with quick changes is grearly appreciated as every second counts!

I quite agree David. What fun is drinking water, when it could be a from a thermos and chunk of chewy flapjack from a tin?

I know *I* can be trusted not to get crumbs or spill drinks on the costumes (they may sometimes look like rags, but they are very expensive purposefully distressed garments).

The trouble is the fact we have to act as role models for the children , who will be inspired to great mischief if they see adults getting away with it. They are uncontrollable enough as it is. I have lost count of the times they have been told to be quiet off stage. Seconds later the murmuring grows again. The temptation to smack heads burgeons ... Calm, I am calm.

Pimms, last night I watched the Patrick Stewart version of A Christmas Carol and paid close attention to Marley. It is a great character. I loved the way they showed him wrapping his jaw.

Finding live theater in this area is really difficult. There are the amateur things at the schools, which are pretty bad and so poorly advertised that I never seem to find out about them until they are finished. Then there is the Joplin Little Theater, which actually has some pretty good productions. That's about it.

Pimms:
I haven't seen a version of A Christmas Carol in several years, but I think the "ghosts" are the most interesting characters. There are some good theatre efforts in our area, but Lord C. is not interested in going to them. I don't drive in the city at night so I watch what I can on the telly.
We are going to the elementary school Christmas program tomorrow night. Our grandson is in it, but he will never be one of the main characters. He's too shy.
with the dress rehearsals. You all may play to a sold out crowd before it's all done.

I'm looking forward to hearing how the first rehearsal in the theatre went

Last night was the first 'tech' rehearsal. As far as I was concerned it would have made only a little difference to anyone if I had not been there We got through about 2/3 of the first act. My scene was not run, but I did get the chance to see how much space I will have to move around, and see the method for cheating the flying wire back to where I enter without the wire getting trapped on the flats.

The tech rehearsals are to give the sound and lighting and backstage crew the opportunity to set and test their parts of the show with the cast on stage. It also allows the cast their first steps in the actual set, getting to grips with the actual props, and an idea of how easy it is to get on and off through the real entrances, rather than ones taped on the floor of the rehearsal room.

It was slow work, particularly as several scenes needed to be repeated twice as many times to allow both sets of children the opportunity to learn the revised spacings and movements dictated by the scenery.

Most of the time all the cast not on stage had to sit in the stalls watching. Principals were provided with their radio mics, at this point only attached with a sticking plaster, rather than translucent tape. A radio mic, if you haven't seen one, is a battery pack with a small aerial and a narrow wire (like ones on MP3 player earphones) about a metre long which is threaded up the back to a small cylindrical microphone about 2cm long and 1/2cm in diameter. This is taped on the cheek or forehead (depending on the make-up/wig constraints) and is fairly unobtrusive. The battery pack is normally worn at the waist and in my experience is a flat black rectangular block slipping easily in a pocket. These are all controlled by the sound engineer, who has to ensure they amplify enough when they are supposed to and not when they shouldn't. In this show with about a couple of dozen mics, some being swapped between characters on in different scenes, this is no easy task.

This afternoon I must leave work early to go and try my costume on, and then have another flying rehearsal. The costume is apparently pretty heavy material, though the chains it is draped with are only plastic. Having seen the set constructed now I am a little nervous of the likelihood of crashing into the scenery - there isn't a great deal of leeway for me to fly between Haven't seen my dressing room yet (shared with three other blokes, one of whom will probably take up most of the room with his six sets of costume)

If I do slip in some stage jargon that I don't explain please point it out, to give me the chance to admit my ignorance of what it means too

How many tech rehearsals do you have? It could be a very long week with all the children...

I only noticed one bit of stage jargon - 'flats' - but I reckon that's probably fairly self-explanatory.

Given the amount we got through last night I reckon we'll need three techs before the two dress rehearsals (one for each team).

Flats: also known by some as barn doors, big bits of scenery presenting a decorated surface to the audience (which can include doors and windows), behind which thin layer are various lengths of wood forming a framework to make it rigid. Often fixed, but sometimes hinged or even hanging from wires so that they can be raised out of sight (or are those bits called 'flys'?. Not the same thing as 'trucks', which are big bits of scenery that can be wheeled on and off - see A1304821 Theatre Stage Machinery

I should have mentioned that another thing making the rehearsal period difficult is the current absence of two or three of the cast due to illness , including the eponymous hero.

Flats hanging from wires are still flats, I believe, even though they're flown. Flown flats perhaps. The things that are frustrating are those times when perfectly normal things have a different name on stage. Steps and stairs are treads, curtains are tabs and so on. Stage left/right/up/down doesn't take long to grasp, but I have often been glared at by the stage crew for daring to say stairs or curtains...

I hope your Scrooge recovers from his lurgy soon.

I remember one show where we had no tech or dress at all as the set took so long to install. We had to make do with rehearsing entrances, exits and fights only and hope that everything had been set up correctly in terms of lighting and sound. That was a bit hair-raising!

Pimms,
How was your flying today? I hope you didn't have any mishaps with the flats, etc. We just returned from our grandson's elementary school Christmas Program. Yes, we are politically incorrect and still call it a Christmas Program. It was delightful!! I love to hear children sing.

The actor playing Scrooge was at last night's tech, not 100% well, but feeling much better after a day off . It was a trifle hectic for me. Left work early, fixed the light switch in the utility room thatg had come off the wall without electrocuting myself, scooped some stew into a lunchbox and grabbed a couple of slices of bread and a satsuma for a supper and drove to the rehearsal room to try on my costume before the flying rehearsal before the tech.

The costume consists of a number of pale beige or white garments, the outer ones distressed with splashes of rubbery paint (which on the gloves briefly caused the fingers to stick together ).
Buckled shoes (painted off-white)
off-white tights with mossy green discolorations,
distressed knee breeches,
white blouse with floppy cuffs and velcro fastenings,
white necktie (that gets tied in a floppy bow),
backless distressed pale waistcoat with about ten buttons,
a heavy distressed pale jacket with black plastic chains painted white attached at various points which can be clipped together and a slit in the back for attaching the wire,
distressed grey gloves (saves making up the hands to match the face ),
and a bandage to bind my jaw which has poppers and elastic to fix it together at the top.

A small amount of needlework is required to adjust these for my size, which I shall undertake myself, with the gratitude of the wardrobe mistress who is somewhat overwhelmed .

The flying was almost as uncomfortable as before, but no residual chafing with the padded lycra garment underneath The cast were sent to their dressing rooms while it was going on after one boy laughed as I crashed into the flats (again), a distraction the director didn't need. I haven't been hurt in the least by the collisions as the velocities are not too great. In order to lift me the lifter (the up-down man) has resorted to jumping off a stepladder and pressganging another of the crew to assist in smoothing the rise. The mover (the one who controls the left and right movement) tried increasing my movement on take-off by off-setting the top end of the wire, but initial attempts caused too much pendulum swing and left me colliding with walls at the end of the movement.

After the flying practice I was able to eat my tepid supper (in the car), before returning to the tech, when I was able to go through my whole Act 1 scene. I am not entirely happy with the sound balance yet - I couldn't hear that I was being amplified (though wearing my mic), and although it was only the pianist accompaniment, as I am used to from the rehearsal room, it was much harder to make out the music. The chorus who accompany me offstage in two verses had it even harder as they couldn't see the conductor and got wildly out of time. All in all the song was the most disappointing part of the performance. The flying looked good though apparently

Just cancelled an appointment I had overlooked to give blood this evening - I really can't fit it in before New Year

I was among those released from the tech early (at 10pm) last night while they went on to do the Toy Ballet that ends Act 1. Only the whole of the second act to do this evening then I shall again try to get down early, in order to get first dibs on a hanging rail which I'll need to transport from the rehearsal rooms.

Exciting times. Pimms, this sounds like a very professional production. Is anyone going to tape it?

Copyright laws would of course say no. The licence for some of the Rodgers and Hammerstein shows does now include an option to tape it for cast and crew, though, which is an excellent idea. I hope that this works well and is extended to lots of other shows. It's not as though they'd have any commercial impact on sales of the DVDs of the film versions, is it?

I'm really enjoying this thread Pimms Fascinating stuff. I'm interested to find out how they stop you swinging around and crashing into the flats

And your description of the whole costume really does beg a photo I feel

This blog thread will probably not continue with as much new info once we get into the run - there won't be much new stuff to describe.

However we are not there yet... Last night was the first band call at the theatre, but principally was used to continue teching the second act. It is a complex show. I again set off early, knowing the the wardrobe mistress needed hanging racks transferring to the theatre.

It only took five minutes to get up to the rehearsal rooms from the theare on foot (having taken advantage of early arrival to park near the backstage entrance, which is impossible later ), but laden with empty hanging racks (one with wheels and two sort of stacked on it) it took a quarter of an hour to walk down again. Those little castors make quite a racket on pavement, and to my dismay on arrival at the stage door I found I only had three castors, having lost one on the way

The biggest rack I deposited in my dressing room (which I am sharing with three other blokes, one of whom has six separate costumes including a lion costume - this is used in the Toy Ballet at the end of Act 1 when the toyshop comes to life ) and returned to the rehearsal rooms for more racks keeping an eye open for the missing castor.

I reported the loss to the wardrobe mistress hoping she'd say there were only three castors to start with (no such luck ) and picked up a couple more racks which I wheeled down with another of the cast, who took advantage of the transfer to hang his four costumes rather than carry them directly , which would have been pretty tiring. Still didn't spot the castor, and on returning to the theatre put a telephone directory under the missing corner to even it up.

While waiting for my scene I took advantage of my leisure time to help tape a mirror up in the ad-hoc dressing room under the stage, take a large table up to the paint floor above the stage (where the wigs are to be prepped), sew overlaps in my waistcoat and breeches to make them fit better, and start creating small loops of thread to attach labels to the humbugs. The good news is the castor turned up , the wardrobe mistress spotted it near the stage door - lucky I had told her what had happened

My scene (the scene where Scrooge is in Hell) went well with several bits of praise from the cast for how effective the flying looked and how I sounded. It is an easier scene for me than the Act1 scene, as it doesn't involve the obstacles of Scrooge's bedroom (a bed and several people [phantoms] crawling about on the floor), having to sit balancing on one foot, or singing. The Hell scene is great fun I can be pretty manic

Finished at 10:30pm Tonight will be the first dress rehearsal, full make-up and costume for the children involved but only costume needed for the adults. It may go on a bit, as the children still need to finish teching the end of the second act (since they had to finish tech nights at 9:30pm)

Incidentally photos will be taken by a photographer on the second dress rehearsal (the best will go outside the theatre) and be available at a local camera shop for people to purchase copies. Once I see the proofs I will buy some, scan them and add them to the MSN space (sometime next week) If I can get a shot in costume before then (offstage) I'll do it sooner, but the flying shot will have to be a professional one.

As David said a DVD may be possible for cast and crew. I had one for our production of Jesus Christ Superstar (as a member of the ensemble), but irritatingly it often skips or hangs The first show I saw recorded by my society (Chess, the production before I joined) was a fixed point 'whole stage' view, and a trial to watch as it was impossible to recognise any of the cast.

Pimms I'm worried about you not being able to hear the piano when you're flying. How are they going to sort that one out for you?

Thank goodness somebody found the caster That sort of thing gives me sleepless nights

10:30 finishes?? I have to go to bed at 9pm. No wonder I've never been in a theatrical production

Keep us posted

Fb