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

Thanks Pimms.

I didn't spin last night, but I did the rest of the dancing. It's tricky to remember to dance gently when you're getting into it! It twinged a bit occasionally but wasn't too bad. And it's feeling better today so by Sunday it should be back to normal. As normal as my neck gets .

Last night's rehearsal was a long one - 7.30 to 10.45, but we managed to do the whole show apart from the last bit of principals stuff and the finale. Not bad considering we had to do all the chorus numbers twice for the two teams of children.

It actually went quite well, although the words still go a bit dodgy in places, and some people (naming no names of course, cough cough) still don't know where they're supposed to be. I'm much more confident we have a show now, though when we get into the theatre with set and costumes on Sunday it might be a different matter...

I wore one of my costumes last night - the one that I wear for all the fast dances. It's too long and a bit restrictive when it comes to lifting your legs up, but on the whole it's very nice compared to some of them! The poor women playing Henry VIII's wives in 'Flash Bang Wallop' have to wear their thick, heavy Tudor costumes for all those numbers. Let's hope they don't faint or anything!

We were reminded not to bring any valuables to the theatre on Sunday, as during the tech/dress rehearsal for The Mikado several people had wallets, phones or jewellery stolen by kids who walked in through a side door when we were onstage.

Hope Sunday has gone well - with the neck and costumes and all.

*bites fingernails anxiously, hoping that the tech runs as smoothly as a tech can*

Thanks both! I'm off work this week and as DannyB works from home I can't get onto the computer apart from the five minutes when he's making a . But just to say I'm still alive, covered in bruises, with sore feet but jolly pleased with the way the first night went! I'll have some time to post a proper report this afternoon, hopefully.

Hurrah! (well, not hurrah for the bruises, but hurrah for everything else)

Time for a second home pc to allow you simultaneous access - wouldn't want to miss out on the trials and tribulations. Possibly a sleeping draught in DannyB's would be useful...

Hey, I heard that...

Watch out, he's ing!

Right. I don't have too long as I have to be there at 5.30 .

Well, the tech/dress on Sunday was the most tiring I've ever done. Got there at 1.00, slapped horrible gloopy foundation on (the make up people insist we use theirs), into costume, sat in horror as a small curly-haired dog was deposited onto my head, and then we started at 2.00.

The tech went fairly smoothly considering there are several large flats, various gauzes, and some large pieces of stage set that need moving on and off. Plus tables and chairs at various points, which the cast have ended up moving as we're a bit short on stage crew. I had a bit of a frantic moment before we started when I realised I couldn't get my white blouse for the first number on over my enormous wig, but someone quickly slit it down the back for me, and as I had a jacket over the top that was then fine.

Unfortunately in the banjo number where we all have to leap on and off chairs and tables (just bum first, not feet, thank goodness) one of the cast's chairs tipped backwards and she feel onto her shoulder. She's OK but a bit sore, I think.

In fact, I nearly did the same thing, as I have to get onto a table very quickly. The tables were painted with matt paint which is hard to slide onto, and they are small with a fairly small balance point, so as I slid on the whole thing just lurched backwards. Luckily for me, the two people standing next to me grabbed me and pushed me back, or it could have been nasty!

The tech finished at about 7.10, so we only had twenty minutes to grab some food and get changed back into our opening costumes for the dress rehearsal. By then, my feet were killing me in my high heeled dance shoes, and I was very tired. Which explained why I messed up in every single number. We finished at about 11.00 but one of my feet was very painful and continued to be the next day, which was slightly worrying. I'm just quite flat-footed and never wear heels, so wearing them for ten hours was just too much I think.

Anyway, I wore my lower heels for the first night last night, and it was fine. The performance went REALLY well, and all the production team were delighted. The audience loved it and we had virtually a full house as it was our 'two for one' Monday night offer. I really enjoyed myself, and managed to get through the whole thing without messing up. The fact that there was no-one in the audience I knew helped, I think. Not so for the rest of the week ! Which, of course, virtually guarantees that I'll mess something up every night...

Unfortunately (and here's the bruises bit), during our dance holding tankards at the end of the show, I clonked my shin bone very hard with a tankard, giving me a big, painful lump and a lovely bruise that's only just starting to come out. It's the opposite leg to my sore foot so last night I didn't know which foot to limp on!

The good news is that I have some lovely costumes and everyone is very , tee hee!

Well, better go and get some food before I have to go out.

Good stuff. Though I am rather perplexed that you've managed to hit your shin with a tankard. Elbow or head I could understand, but shin?

I hate wigs, though I've never had one that looked like a dog...

Hope all the rest of the performances go as swimmingly and as enjoyably as the first one!

I imagined it was a high kick - Can-can girl on the

Glad it went well, hope the enjoyment continues, though without similarly adding to your collection of bruises

Csn you provide links to any photos of you in costume (with or without dog )?

Hope having known audience members has not provided opportunities for slip ups.

Links to photos...hmm, don't know how I could do that. I don't have a web page y'see. I do use Photobox so I suppose I could upload the pics to a separate album there and share them with you, if you give me an e-mail address.

Re. tankard - I have to do a very fast bit of dancing that involves hopping up and down and hitting our ankles, knees and thighs with a tankard in each hand. Believe it or not, it does actually look better than it sounds...I hope!! I can't usually reach my actual limbs with the tankards as my dress stops me lifting my legs too high but that night I managed to clonk myself a good 'un on the shin bone. Ouch!

It's still a bit swollen now but not hurting. Unlike my foot. Yes, another injury. On Thursday night I was doing the solarium dance, which is the spinning dance, and somone trod on the side of my foot with all their weight and a spiky high heel. It hurt like mad and I felt it had swollen up, and when I took my tights off at the end of the show it was a lovely sight and caused much consternation in the ladies dressing room. I went home and put ice on it (another evening spent sitting with frozen peas on me at midnight) and it was still hurting to walk on the next day, but I iced it throughout the day and it had more or less gone down by last night. I wore my lower heeled shoes and it was OK.

Good job the show ends tonight! Our poor Kipps is black and blue too - he ran full tilt into the curtain winding handle the other night, and then took an awkward pratfall. He was worried yesterday he wouldn't be able to go on last night as his leg had swollen up, but he just had to take it a little bit easier than usual, which is hard as it's such a high-energy part.

As to how it's been going other than injuries sustained, well, Monday was good for me, Tuesday was pretty good too, but on Wednesday DannyB came to watch so of course I got nervous and messed things up . I turned too early at one point (which he didn't notice) and only got one tankard in the tankard dance (which he did notice) and that put me off for the rest of the show. I was a bit down about it but he said he enjoyed it and I was fine so I suppose it was just one of those things where it feels as if your mistakes stand out a mile but actually hardly anyone notices.

After that, even though I had two friends in on Thursday night and eleven in last night, I had a couple of good nights and really enjoyed it. Apart from the foot-squishing bit, that is. My parents are in tonight, so hopefully it'll go well again. The audiences have been really appreciative, and there have been lots of very good comments. We seem to have had fairly full houses every night too, so I think it's been a success.

I'm looking forward to tonight but it'll be a bit sad as always when it finishes. And my friends in the group are already trying to persuade/bribe/blackmail me into being in 'Kiss Me, Kate', which I'd sworn not to do...

I shall have to go on a major detox next week to get rid of all the chocolate, sweets and other c**p I've been stuffing my face with this week!

Why do some shows seem to be so injury-prone? It's most strange.

I'm glad that apart from injuries, it's going well, and I hope the last night is fabulous.

Out of curiosity, how do the audience take to Kipps? I can't manage to like him, personally, because of the way he treats his sweetheart, but others seem to love him...

I found creating a free MSN space not too hard. I only use it to put photos on. If you go to it it may provide a method of setting up your own one. http://spaces.msn.com/members/pimmslettuce/PersonalSpace

Hope the last night is a blast.

The audience really like Kipps, there doesn't seem to be a problem there. I agree I find it hard to accept such an inconstant character, but the way our chap plays him he comes across as vibrant and likeable, but rather naive and completely bowled over by his new-found wealth, so he doesn't really think about what he's doing. It works, and I think that's testament to his performance.

Thanks Pimms - yes, the last night was great. Apart from the bit where I got my foot trodden on again. The same foot. By the same person. !!!

So the bruises have now melded together and are very impressive.

The show went down really well, and there have been a lot of comments saying it was the best one for years etc. etc. Some people noted that the staged looked too crowded during the chorus numbers, which I'd agree with, but on the whole the energy and enthusiasm was much admired by the audiences.

I think putting in the challenging dancing was a good idea in the end, though I think a bit more selectivity (is that a word?) re. who could cope with what would have helped. I'm glad we didn't have a dance troupe, as I wouldn't have got into it, and I've really enjoyed doing the dancing, but some of the older members haven't enjoyed the dancing and haven't really managed to get it off pat.

My parents enjoyed it, I think, though I haven't spoken to them in depth yet. I'm sure I'll get the lowdown from my mum soon! They bought me a lovely big bunch of flowers - our house is full of flowers at the moment. I also got loads of as presents from cast members, most of which came in the form of Easter eggs so I think I'll be eating Easter Eggs from now until Christmas! (Not a bad thing, don't get me wrong!)

We had a little sort of party afterwards where everyone gathered in the theatre and some people did a few sketches or songs taking off elements of the show. The kids did a hilarious parody of the show, playing the various main characters complete with false moustaches and costumes. A couple of them are very talented indeed.

I got to bed at about 1.15 then had to be up at 8.00 for the get-out at 9.00. I had a bit of a disturbed night as DannyB came in at 2.30am having been out playing a gig at a wedding, so what with that and the general 'end of show tiredness' I was knackered all day yesterday.

And now it's all over. I was feeling a bit this morning, especially as it was Monday and I had to go back to work, but I've picked up a bit now. We have a rehearsal for Twelfth Night tonight so it's back into the swing of that one!

My friends in the operatic society are trying to persuade me to do 'Kiss Me, Kate', especially as a lot of people aren't doing it as they're doing 'West Side Story' with another group. I was wavering, but I really must be sensible - rehearsing two shows at once is just too knackering.