Thursday, October 01, 2009

the Buzz is back

Last Saturday saw the end of the hot sunshine, at least for the time being. My sunbed had been tucked away out of the rain. At journeys end I came up out of the station at Fuengirola and the sky was quite grey. The rain wasn't particularly heavy so I didn't bother with my umbrella. The theatre makes wet umbrellas unwelcome so I got just a little bit wet on my way the bar. First rains since May. The exit door was open and I could hear 'Cabaret' in rehearsal. Suddenly it seemed like Autumn had really begun. It was an audition day and lots of familiar faces were gathered round the table where Doreen Slater was keeping the chart for the aspirants as we trooped upstairs to be auditioned by Marie Legge. Time first though for a cup of coffee and catch up with the gossip (not a lot, very disappointing) and then the bar filed with a break in the rehearsal. It was good to see the regular musicals casts again as I don't do that many musicals but they are always fun when I do. Confidence was high and it seems that in Andy as the MC and Claire as Sally Bowles the general opinion was that the theatre had a winner on its hands. (October 9th - 18th). Of course there was still some reading from the script and undignified stumbles but at this stage that is both to be expected and was lower in quantity than usual. With the crowd from the stage, the slightly steamy atmosphere from the rain and the chatter and noise the theatre seemed alive again as it can't quite manage to do when it is really the summer sun and heat on offer. There was a distinct promise of Autumn and a theatre season to look forward to.
The feeling of being back in the swing continued when I came in to do the desk on Wednesday morning. This time a lot of old friends and former castmates (is that a word?) were rehearsing 'A Murder Is Announced'. Our Miss Marple will be Doreen Slater and the cast includes David Vincent and Lynn Halliday and other fine regular Salon actors. That will be 30th October to 3rd November. Sales of seats on our first trip of the season to SELWO and then Puerto Banus are not going as well as we had hoped. The cost of 40 euros is good value with the 'extras' that a FOTA trip provides but we have to acknowledge that in these difficult times it can be rather a luxury to spend so much and we are all a bit nervous about luxuries. We'll talk about it at the committee meeting on Tuesday next week and I'll let you know through this blog.
Well. the audition went well. You get the phone call which tells you that you've got the part and you think Mission Accomplished! and then it sinks in that there are going to be lots of hours spent learning lines and working on the character and going to rehearsals and taking deep breaths before stepping on the stage and Oh My God! So if you want to see how it turns out the play is Habeas Corpus by Alan Bennett and you should mark a date between November 20th and November 24th in your diary. The play had a good run in the West End with Alec Guinness playing Dr Arthur Wicksteed so I hope nobody can remember that. There is challenging and challenging! So it is back again this Saturday for our first read through. The committee meeting on Tuesday and I shall be back on the desk on Wednesday. There'll be a lunch for you to book and a trip to look ahead to. See you