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

Pimms, are you going to be sad for it to end, or relieved? The shows that run for months or even years must become tedious to the performers. Or maybe not. Maybe it is a pleasure to have it all down pat and they enjoy it more. Not being a thespian, I can only imagine what it is like.

Well now I am in a break. A whole day. Christmas Day off, then a matinee on Boxing Day with the Governor of the Island in the audience.

Today's performance was brilliant My performance, that has irked me the last three shows, was flawless today (IMHO ). This was important to me because the chap I share an office with was in with his family, and he would have been bitingly sarcastic if I had screwed up.

But the rest of the show was just as good. In a normal show run for us of eight performances (Saturday to Saturday) this would have been the last night, but we have another week to go yet, finishing with a final matinee on New Years Eve.

Another aspect I haven't dwelt on much has been the plastic chains attahced to me costume. There must be about four metres of chain, attached at critical points with tags or thread loops, but also adjustable with about half a dozen split links that can be used to join lengths together. Some of these hang across my back, some across the front. To take the jacket off I must put them all to the back. It causes deep frowns in the s face if she sees me removing the jacket while wearing the wig, so I try to leave it on the whole show.

Initially I thought that tying the front loops together before removing the jacket would be sufficient to recreate the look each performance. Unfortunately the loops can be confused and go in front or behind the arms and tangle and . The last two performances I have had to spend a good deal of time rejigging the loops, to prevent them looking tangled, and allow the essential longer loop to be easily grabbed and looped over Scrooge's neck before my song starts. Tonight finished by tying the front loops in two places.

Fingers crossed my adjustments will allow recreation of the look Others in the drssing room think I am a trifle obsessive about it

Nollick Ghennal

Merry Christmas, Pimms.

Thanks Milady

Boxing Day matinee performance not quite as buzzing as Christmas Eve, but a good one noetheless

Went on for my first scene without realising I hadn't put on my stippled stubble or shaded in the false eyebrows. No one else seemed to notice During the rest of the first half I ate my lunch - a roast beef fillet with walnut crust sandwich (leftover from yesterday's lunch ) In the interval I complained (to the men there and to the assistant dirctor) about the inappropriate decorations in the male dressing room (Nuff said).
In the seocnd half I spoiled my Hell scene slightly by not being far enough back to be on my mark when leaving. This meant when I took off I swung back diagonally slightly, and twanged onto the light bar above the stage, which meant I lost momentum and hung for a second on the flat in view of the audience.
The Governor however, when he came backstage after the show, had nothing but praise for the show in every aspect.

Still had to fiddle a bit with my chains.

Glad to hear you all passed muster with the governor. And that you had a decent lunch. How do you make the walnut crust on the roast? I don't remember ever eating it.

To make a walnut crust you need to make a walnut paste you smear onto the seared fillet before rolling in walnut crumbs.

For 2 1/2 pounds of beef fillet the recipe suggests nearly 3/4 pound of walnut pieces. Process /chop the nuts until finely chopped (between breadcrumb and peppercorn size), put aside half for the crust and use the rest to make the paste (a food processor is easiest here) with quarter of a pound of pickled walnuts, a couple of cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of horseradish sauce, three tablespoons both of mustard and of olive oil. The brown grey paste this forms looks unappetising but has a great flavour. Add a bunch of roughly chopped parsley to the walnuts reserved for the crust. Sear the fillet, leave to cool, smear thickly with paste, roll in walnut crumbs and roast for a little over an hour, then rest for a quarter hour covered with foil before carving into thick slices

Another good performance yesterday afternoon . Back to evening perfomances for the rest of the week. This evening the director is back to see the show, and some of my family are watching too.
Now I have a cross of tape on the stage to mark my take-off location and prevent me being swung into the light bar again Ordered photos from Keigs before the show - apparently they can be viewed and ordered online, but there is no album visible on their site at the moment The photos won't be ready until next week.

Dry mustard? Or prepared?

The director is back? That's a surprise. I would have thought he would have been at every performance. It that a normal thing?

The recipe sounds good. I will let Hyp tackle it.

Pimms, please stay away from the light bar. That could get dangerous and you can't even order a there.

I think we used prepared mustard - it doesn't say mustard powder in recipe

It is usual for us (employing a director from off-island) to have their work finish with the final dress rehearsal. After that we use the assistant director (a member of the society) to tackle any emerging problems, provide notes from the previous performance, and liaise with the director over what changes have had to be sorted out. The director usually tries to come back so that they can see the show toward the end of the run.

Yesterday's performance went well To bed by 11pm but up to get to work by 8:30am Naturally locked myself out of my computer by somehow repeatedly inputting wrong password, and had to fiddle with pen and paper until IT department arrived to start their day at 9am and could reset my locked account .

After having been so totally engrossed in this project for quite a length of time, will you suffer from let down at its end?
You will have to find something equally as challenging to do with your time.

Photos of me flying on http://spaces.msn.com/members/pimmslettuce/PersonalSpace (the Marley pics album) Quality not perfect as I scanned in photos I purchased, rather than getting jpeg versions.

No luck yet with Keigs http://keigs.photolist.net/ - I queried and the album of Scrooge photos has been deleted from the shortcuts, but will be replaced (I am assured).

The only panic last night was having to search for my mic pack for my second scene. I had been lulled into laziness by one of the Belinda Cratchits (remember there are two, red and blue teams), who promptly provides the pack when she has finished her scene. Last night it was the other Belinda, who *had* removed the pack (one night she didn't realise she had to and was still wearing it ), but had it placed by her chaperone back in the mic case as "it wasn't needed again" So I was sitting in the drssing room thinking I'm on soon, better do my harness straps up, realised the reason I hadn't already was because I was still waiting for the pack, briskly started search for Belinda, not in her dressing room, not obvious backstage, but chaperone knew where the pack was, I got it, plugged in my capsule, hid pack under blouse, adjusted my straps and waited for my scene to start .

lost my reply when I pressed 'preview'

It was a gem . In brief (I can't be bothered to recreate it all) despite promising not to be in the next MOS show (that starts rehearsals in a week), I have been asked to be in two performances in February - a play and a ballet, and tenatively agreed to consider performing in the summer in some sort of audience participation version of the Rocky Horror Show.
I have disappointed the producers of the play, as I had already agreed to be in the ballet - the Nutcracker Suite. I've never been in a ballet before, probably because I have the natural dancing talent of a .
I admitted the shortage of dancing flair, but this was disregarded. Apparently the role I am filling in for (due to the original person having had to drop out) only needs to dance a waltz in the finale, and this can be done as though , with a stein in the hand, if I can't cut the balletic mustard. Assuming this doesn't fizzle out I shall start a new thread to discuss it.

Wow! You're high enough above the stage for it to be scary.

The Rocky Horror one should be fun. And you should do the ballet if for no other reason than being able to say you've been in one. It will sound very classy.

Because of this thread and David's, I now know a lot more about putting on a play. Thanks for writing it. It's been really interesting.

What a lot's happened since I last caught up with this thread

It sounds fabulous Pimms

But aren't you exhausted? I guess you can't afford to be tired until the run ends?

Fb

Glad you have enjoyed it . It is the closest I've come to a sustained diary.

The photos don't show the greatest height I reach - when entering Hell I am at least twice as high, and the half minute or so I wait hanging in silence behind the flat for my cue is frequently the least comfortable, though I feel perfectly safe dangling there. It is also the trickiest to get into position for. As Bob Cratchit sings at the grave of Tiny Tim the two haulers winch me up with me facing away from the stage,climbing the traverser's loop hand over hand, which he holds taut (to stop myself swinging into view). When I reach the right height I wind my right ankle around the traverser's loop, let go with my left hand and try to spin around 180 degrees to face across the stage, and grab the edge of the flat that I will appear from behind. Then I can free my foot and hold myself in place, just about the time Bob rushes off stage (beneath me) overcome with emotion. Then it is the wait for Scrooge to query the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come whether this is the inescapable future, or something he can change, and the shows Scrooge his own gravestone (with the year of death 1844 - the show makes clear it is set in Christmas 1843).

FB it certainly is tiring . I have had no problem dropping off to sleep on my return from a show - even after a matinee or the afternoon after an evening show I feel I need another nap. Never tired during the show, well, maybe a bit fatigued immediately after a harrowing scene. Last show this afternoon. Last night we were all presented with little gold medallions by the Society's patron as a souvenir of the show

Real gold?

And did you hand out the Humbugs?

Oh, my. I hit the wrong button and unsubscribed to this conversation--that was the last thing I wanted to do. Will this put me back on track?
Pimms, I have really enjoyed your journal. I had no idea things were so complicated in the theatrical world..............

Well, it has a hallmark on the back.

I gave out the humbugs to the cast at the start of the run, before Christmas. I must admit I did give one late bug out yesterday before the final matinee to the musical director, when he came around to the dressing rooms distributing framed copies of the cast list to everyone. I also received a key ring with Scrooge logo, calendar with photo of me on it in costume, lithograph illustration of Marley visiting Scrooge in his bedroom, bottle of and a glow-in-the-dark with ball and chain

Final show went well, backstage crew appreciated the box of bottles of . In my last post I forgot to mention that the lifting crew made their first serious error on Fridays show when they came to lift me over Scrooge's bed the traverser mixed up which way to pull, and swung me into the flat at the edge of the stage, before I swung off it, spun around and ended up (eventually, with a little more wailing than normal) in the right place. Fortunately the scene continued according to plan from then on.

Blein Vaynrey Noa

Before anyone asks if this is the end of the show, a few aspects will extend beyond the last performance.

The flats were dismantled the evening after the last show, costumes hung and bagged, shoes paired up with rubber bands, dressing rooms cleaned and emptied (make-up removal wipes also work remarkably well on the white table surfaces ), and generally everything that has to be returned to hire companies checked off.

Next weekend volunteers will return to the theatre to remove the floor we fitted (interlocking chipboard sheets covered with painted hardboard sheets taped together) and return them back to our own scenery store on the island. The same day, in the evening, will be the adult cast's aftershow party/dinner with light-hearted awards and a few speeches. The children will have their opportunity a week later to have a party. I won't be at that one though as I will be off on holiday

Despite the ban on foodstuff in the dressing rooms throughout the run there were numerous exceptions practised. I did stick to water (sparkling) but also ate sandwiches between my scenes on several nights. Every dressing room acquired s, some from the room's own members, others as gifts from others in the cast (eg a box of Maltesers for Dressing Room 2). Personally I provided an extremely rich that had been made for Christmas involving 4 bars of dark , five eggs and rested on a base of crushed biscuits.

. Mmm, chocolate cake...

I'm glad everything ghas gone well, and that you managed to rise above the various mishaps. What a lot of cool presents as well!