Yikes, two weeks to write and a rather epic two weeks.
I have to confess that the two weeks of constant performances of corrie slightly took it out of me. I loved being part of the show, and being reliable for the cast. I was backstage, pushing and shoving the endless trucks about. I loved finding emotion even in the opening of a door – a quick or slow door makes all the difference. I didn’t love the play and that wore me down each night. It was not so much a play but more a collection of famous scenes. Some of those scenes were brilliant and iconic, but each night I kept thinking of ways to have linked them as a satisfying whole. The audience enjoyed the show, but the audience was slim most nights. still I enjoyed being surrounded by a cast who really inhabit some of the roles. Heck, who am I kidding, I just love being backstage. The most natural place for me to be.
I did squeeze in a few talks during all this. One was to a group of ladies, fierce and fiery and friendly, called Tangent. I was only allowed 35 minutes which is tough for me. But I had fun watching the politics and dynamics of the group. Each lovely mature lady having a role to play and making sure they used that power. The other group was for the university of the Third age and this was a tour round the Garrick. As I had suspected they loved seeing all the wigs from corrie.
But then, unexpectedly, there was a very quick trip down to Cornwall and the Falmouth College. Such a gorgeous location and the weather was kind, sunny but bumpy on the plane. And I felt fired up, and I think I gave a darn fine talk, finding a good shape, throwing out pearls of sort of wisdom, and bits of emotional insight. We got to almost three hours and everyone was up for more. The only film of ours I showed was Tchaikovsky and again that had a great effect. the audience response to the whole talk was thrilling. And that night I sat on the harbour wall with, of course, a Cornish pasty.
A bit of culture with the film of Downton Abbey which was absurd and raced through big plots at the rate of knots, but insanely enjoyable. The next night was Rigoletto from Lake Constance at bregenz. A stage in a lake is an absurd concept on top of the absurd concept of an opera anyway, but add to this outrageously extravagant visuals, and slightly absurd visuals, and it makes for a very odd experience. Gilda singing Caron nome thirty foot up in the air in a hot air balloon, watching by a huge gurning puppet was certainly unique.
Quite a couple of weeks, and all this made for a lively conversation at the unemployment office.
Animator, Director, Writer