A Poll

For all you arty dramaery people out there:
Would you rather see Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet or "something by Oscar Wilde" on stage in June?
Answers on a postcard please - or just comments in the usual place!

Coming up at the Rhoda McGaw...

Here is what I've been rehearsing lately. Come and see it, it should be a really good show - we've worked really hard!

I'm back...

I have been thoroughly told off for not being a good blogger, so here I am... There really isn't much going on of interest in my life at the moment - all I seem to do is work, rehearse, sleep, work, rehearse, sleep. Mainly I'm rehearsing though... I am thoroughly sick of many of the songs in "Oh What a Lovely War" now - not only have I rehearsed every night this week (just about on top of the whole stage managing thing now) but I also find my self singing them at work. Not really appropriate to be singing songs such as "Gassed last night, gassed the night before..." but then better than singing the Nazi anthem "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" which was thoroughly stuck in my head when I was doing Cabaret. Or indeed "Springtime for Hitler" which I sang for weeks after seeing "The Producers". Why are all the songs I sing a) inappropriate and b) related to either World War?

I must say that I have found the research about WW1 really interesting in a completely disgusted and horrified way. The sheer loss of life was just phenomenal. I studied really useless periods of history at school (The American West - fun but really, cowboys and indians?; The Irish Troubles - really really interesting and relevant at the time; Medicine through Time - half interesting, but not terribly useful; and Castles - BORING! But I do know a lot about arrow slits and crenellations now), so my knowledge about either World Wars is limited to what I've picked up from watching Blackadder, mainly.

I started this post to talk about something completely different. Hmm, perhaps I shouldn't type it, as I keep forgetting that this is in the public domain. I'll have a think about it and come back I think...And I really need to post about Tunisia, though that might end up being one of my listy type entries...

If you're at a loose end this week...

...Go and see "Whose Life is it Anyway?" at the Rhoda McGaw Theatre, Woking.

This popular black comedy by Brian Clarke is set in a hospital and tells the story of sculptor Ken Harrison: a serious road accident forces him to contemplate a future in which he will remain constantly dependent on those around him. Left with only the use of his sharp mind, wit and indomitable spirit, Ken will not submit quietly to his fate. He can make us laugh, and often does. He could make us cry, but doesn't want to. What he does want is to be heard and to reclaim the decisions about his own life and death. Whose Life Is It Anyway? places the individual at the centre of one of the most complex medical and moral issues of our times - do we have the right to choose how we want to live and when we want to die?

6th-9th June 2007, 7.45pm. Tickets are £10 (£8 concessions) and available from the box office (01932 702091)

GO AND SEE IT!

Dramatic Wonderings

Having come down from my cloud of accolade and success (it doesn’t happen very often. In fact rarely ever so I’m allowed to be pleased.) I am left wondering what to do with myself next. I am going to help with Front of House for “Whose Life Is It Anyway” with Ottershaw Players in June, but I kind of want something to get my teeth into. I really enjoyed directing, and I have enjoyed playing around with sound for PLT (though to be honest Phil has done most of it, I just press play when necessary). I’d like to Stage Manage something one day, but not this year probably.

I’m already thinking of possibilities for directing. It was suggested last night that I could do something for the festival, as I don’t think anyone has come forwards at Ottershaw yet. But then again, I’m not sure I can go through the stress of being adjudicated again… You do all that work, then one performance, and poof, it’s over and someone you don’t know rips it to shreds…I don’t know, maybe it’d be better this year. The other problem is who to do it with. I really enjoy working with the “youths”, but aside from the three in Teechers, there aren’t many others of a suitable age. So for the festival it’s more likely to be grown ups. Which is ok, if a little scary – who is going to take me seriously?

I’d like to do another show in April next year, but again, what to do, and with whom. One of my favourite plays at the moment is “Quartermaine’s Terms” by Simon Gray, which calls for French windows at the back of the stage – something Brook Hall offers! Other options, though probably not for Brook Hall, are “Pygmalion” or “The Importance of Being Earnest”. However they’re both quite big shows, and I don’t think I’d be allowed to direct them! On the youth side, I quite fancy “Shakers” with the girls, but that’s another Godber play – don’t want to be typecast!

It’s all quite academic at the moment anyway – but a lot more appealing to think about than thesis and rain and boringness.

Long time, no blog

I would love to say that my absence has been caused by a fit of essay writing and hard work... Well sort of. The internet has been down at my house for well over a week, and as I only get 39 mins at the local library (why 39 mins? it's a mystery), I've not been able to write properly. Also, with the essay writing that needed to be done, I have actually been working....
So news... I have new glasses (if I could work out how to take a picture I would); I was sent a red rose and chocolates last Wednesday; my friend Beth is getting married :) ; Teechers is up and running again (I will update Adventures in Amateur Dramatics soon!); I'm applying to Greenwich University for next year.
I think that's it... Life sort of just barrels on, without a by-or-leave! OOOh I am re-reading all the Anne of Green Gables books, and am now at the penultimate one. I swear I read these books over and over when I was little, but Anne's House of Dreams seems almost brand new to me. Hmmm...

Holiday plans are afoot, and I may well be able to go away earlier in June than I was expecting. The choice is now between Morocco and Croatia, so I am busy reading my Lonely Planets trying to make a decision. Not that Phil won't be involved too....

Back to reading about mathematical development in children. I am hoping that it will soon become plain why I am so terrible at Maths. Then again, maybe not...

Bleugh

There really is only one word to describe it. Bleugh.

I have the extraordinary head cold that is making it's way round the country. My nose is blocked, my throat is sore and I am extremely deaf. I have also been to my god mother's today (and yesterday) and she has a cat so I am also in the throes of a extreme allergic reaction, and look quite like Rudolph. Sigh.

Enough moaning - I now have 4 fully functioning wheels on my car, after getting sick of flat tyres. I've had 6 flat tyres on this car in the last 18 months. Six. That's more than my mother has had in her lifetime. Now, hopefully, I've sorted it by buying a new wheel. Fingers crossed. And I've made an appointment to have my eyes tested next week - how very organised!! Only something I've been meaning to do for...um...a year now?

Back to work before auditions tonight. I am hoping Pete reads this before the auditions so he knows my head is full of cold!! Wish me luck....

What exactly has been going on?

Well it's been sometime.
In short I have been:

Ill
Working
On holiday in Madeira (see photos)
Ill
Having puppies born in my living room
Watching the tennis
Ill
Trying not to watch the football
Sleeping
Ill
and panicking and planning intermittently my festival entry....

Not very exciting, so hence, no blog. Sorry guys!