“We apologise for the delay in this service,” says the ever so charming but perhaps most despised public announcer in Britain, as the 0830 Cannon Street train is cancelled. Thankfully, being a stickler for time and having the immortal ‘train before the train’ motto tattooed on my left bicep, I will hopefully still arrive with plenty of time for ballet barre and a perhaps a few sirens or whinnys before we begin.
But time and lateness are an ongoing bugbear for me, especially in the theatre world. I cannot stand being late in normal life, and unless I’m being held captive by wild and angry creatures from the deep, the chances are I’m usually on time. For me, this goes without saying in the theatre world. During the run of a production, I suppose it’s more obvious - if you’re not there in time, you don’t go on. Simple. In rehearsal however, some people are less concerned.
This irks me for several reasons. Firstly, it’s our job to be there on time and unless you have a remarkably good excuse, no exceptions. Plus, the majority of people at the call will be there on time, and to have to wait for Doris who’s popped to Costa for a skinny cappuccino with extra foam is remarkably irritating. Out of respect for your fellow company and personal pride in being professional, being on time is something that should go without question. Yes, of course there will be occasions when being late is out of our hands; tree/badger/damsel in distress on the line, forest fire at London Bridge etc.. and in which case, you’d clearly be hugely apologetic and enjoy the warm and forgiving arms of the company.
Rehearsals are storming on and we’re making our way through the show gradually. Being the first re-cast production I’ve been involved with, it’s interesting to see how the “this is what we did last time” problem is dealt with. Some of the current company sometimes forget that the new cast don’t know the blocking of scene 21 and so when asked to give it a go, you sort of have to weigh up how much free reign you have to improvise and how much you have to ‘guesstimate’ the original track.
It’s been an absolute luxury to have time to play and discover the story for ourselves, also knowing that there are some set blocking moments to back up the new work. Thankfully, I’m in a team with 2 other rather marvellous actors who can deal with my moments of disorientating cluelessness and moments of brain freeze, not too mention my constant jigging about, bad jokes and musical theatre back catalogue soprano classics. Lovely.
With Theatreland gearing up for the 2010 Olivier Awards this Sunday, there is renewed excitement with potential winners being predicted and gasped about already. The questions on everyone’s lips include can a former Spice Girl win Best Actress in a Musical? Will the acclaimed revival of Hello Dolly finally reap the awards it so deserves? And finally, will Jedward be awarded Best Takeover in a Role for Glinda and Elphaba? Best of luck to all those performing at the ceremony.
After a fairly heated phone call with the lovely, kind and co-operative staff at Sky, we’ve discovered we’re to be internetless for 10 days. Ten whole days. 240 hours. At first, I must admit to yelping like a small dog and weeping into my What Broadband? magazine, but it struck me just how much we have come to rely on the beloved world wide web these days. Be it for emails, social networking, blogging, shopping, music downloads or translating ancient runes (no? Me neither), the web is truly an integral part of our lives. Scary.
Having started writing at 0820 this morning, waiting for the 0830 to Cannon Street, I had intended to finish this week’s blog after rehearsal in time to go live on Thursday. Instead however, I think it may go up on Friday. Late.
Oh, the irony.
