Today our planning came to fruition. Two glass gobos arrived in the post, each bearing a striking red Bishop of Llandaff bloom. They were slotted into lanterns in the rig, and projected into the centre of the stage – a stunning image with which to open a play that promises an uplifting evening of vibrant colour.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views )
Just moments before we began the final rehearsal for A Voyage Round My Father we received the news that John Mortimer had died earlier that day. He and Harold Pinter’s first plays had been performed together on the same bill, so it was a sobering silence that fell upon our group as we considered the loss of two significant playwrights within weeks of each other, and the play we were about to run which opens with an eight year old Mortimer going to school and ends with the death of his own father. It was hard to remain quiet for long, though, knowing what we were about to see: an autobiography about a man with a voracious appetite for life and an incisive wit; an irrepressible good humour and 85 years of spectacular achievement not only in the arts but also in the legal world. I can’t think of a greater tribute the arts can return than welcoming audiences to a new staging of his best-known play only a week after his passing.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views )
On Monday we moved rehearsals into the new building. It smells new, is shiny and clean, and everything about it is refreshing. A huge window looks out over the car park, leaving us feeling very exposed when rehearsing after dark, but also gives a sense of real engagement with the outside world. Audiences arriving to see the show can clearly see us preparing the next one. This feeling of connectedness is very appropriate, since the new Workspace will mostly accommodate the Education and Borderlines activities through which we reach out to our local communities.
[ add comment ] ( 1 view )
Last night to one of Borderlines’ many presentations this week. Over four nights they are presenting stories from the Arabian Nights, selecting from some of the 995 stories that we don’t visit in the main stage production. On Friday the Young People’s Theatre Company will present Aladdin; tonight Strathcross and Bridging the Gap, two of the groups we work with comprising learning disabled actors, will present the stories of the Fisherman and the Vizir Who was Punished; last night our group for English for Speakers of Other Languages presented the stories of The Ruined Man Who Became Rich Again Through A Dream and the story of Camaralzaman and Badoura.
With mulled wine and mince pies in the foyer and the studio decked out in colourful silken drapes it was quite an event. As the actors tumbled in, wearing bright, gold trimmed and bejewelled costumes, I was amazed – the line seemed to go on and on! The group, comprising people from all over the world – one of whom had arrived in the UK only two days before – had brought friends and family along, filling the studio with languages including Kurdish, Hungarian, Iranian, Egyptian, Croatian, Chinese, a range of African languages. An apt audience for a collection of stories that range around the world from Baghdad to Istanbul to China to Cairo.
[ add comment ] ( 1 view )
The Managing Director and I are the Joint Chief Executive and split the workload between us, with me leading on what I regard as all the fun stuff (the art) and him leading on all the organisational and financial side. However he’s been off sick for some weeks and looks set to be off till after Christmas, so I’ve been covering what I can of his workload as well as my own. It’s an interesting experience. I’m developing new relationships with staff through working with them in a different way; exploring the deep waters of financial management (I know so much more about VAT now than I ever wanted to know); doing more in the way of planning and budgeting than I normally do and therefore finding new ways to approach them. It’s been a steep learning curve, which is satisfying in many ways – it’s always exciting to learn new things – but it’s also leaving me keen to get back to my more normal workload.
[ add comment ] ( 1 view )
Calendar
