Phew!

It was some kind of day today! But before I go on just have a look at the set diorama! It's probably a little out of scale, but, it serves its purpose. There'll be a lovely sense of space and with the earthy tones and a spacious sky ... Cooooeeee!!!

Also, before I talk about the rehearsal tonight I want to share a story of blind luck which kind of set the tone for my day/evening.

On Monday evening I went for a walk on my regular beach near the Sandon Point Surf Club. It was around sun down and it was a relaxing time of day to be walking. I had my iPod and some great tunes to set pace to. As I was approaching my car, after dusting the sand from my feet, I noticed that I didn't have my car keys! Having one of those 'clicker' things I knew I didn't lock them in the car and the only possible thing that could have happened was that they had worked their way out of my pocket into the sand - or worse still, into the water! I wandered back to retrace my steps but it was already getting dark and I could see no sign of them anywhere.

What to do? I was half an hour walk away from home - which wouldn't have been a problem but I was bare footed after my beach walk. Fortunately one of the MSND people lives close by the beach where I was walking so I lobbed over to their place and fortunately again they were home! They gave me a lift back home to pick up my wife's car keys and then back to the car to save it from a lonely night by the sea.

The next day I wandered back to the beach to look for the keys, but alas, no keys. I spent over an hour walking slowly along the same path I walked the evening before and then enquired at the take-away just in case some one had handed them in, but alas, no keys. I figured that I probably lost them in the water while I was walking and that they were half way to New Zealand on the tide.

Then came this afternoon's walk and the dumbest piece of luck - even dumber than accidently winning $800 on last year's Melbourne Cup - I found my car keys!!! I was casting a cursory glance around, just  in case; I had walked past the spot where they were lying and then I looked over my shoulder and something caught my eye!!! Un-freakin-believable!

I have to say my soul sang a little this afternoon. It was a lovely piece of luck and isn't an unwelcome karmic nod given the year that's been so far. As a small aside I will say that this has been an incredibly tough year on an extreme personal level: a difficult time in my relationship with my son, some lingering health issues, flow on effects in my ability to keep up with a demanding PhD work schedule - which was also in rough waters anyway and the initial difficulties and teething problems with the production are just a few of the issues I've been juggling this year. In the last few weeks there has been some hard decisions that are leading to a considerable re-arrangement in respect to some of these things and some of the weight has been lifting. Finding my car keys was a small thing it's true but the blind luck of it has made me appreciate that there is a big blue iguana winking in my direction occasionally ;-)

So, onto rehearsal tonight and my good vibes from the lucky afternoon kept flowing tonight. It was fun, it was productive and some ideas that I had to help rehearse some of the scenes we did tonight made a real difference ... Phew!

The first part of rehearsal I had with the Rude Mechanicals as we set most of the choreography for their entrances and exits. It was fantastic stuff with lots of giggling and laughing and the added movement certainly added a whole new level to their scenes. I have to mention Skye here who is one of the production team and who also choreographed the movements for those scenes whilst dealing with a little bit of Tonsillitis! A round of applause please!

The second part of rehearsal was spent with the young lovers choreographing their big scene. I've always seen this scene as being acted in a very tight space which would help to reflect the struggle each of the characters are having with each other - kind of like 3 or 4 people in a phone box all trying to get to the door at once. I sketched out a finite space on the floor with chalk and added some guide marks and then told the actors what I was looking for, and low-and-behold, success! Another amusing scene well choreographed and one that did a lot to establish the characters at that point in the play. 

And that was that, I thanked everyone for their hard work and then we went home.

It was a really satisfying night's work tonight and I have to say, once again, my soul is singing a little ... which is certainly more welcome than the belching flatus that's been there most of the year!

PIA scale for tonight - 0/10!!

P.S. The lady, who was one of the main instigators behind the idea of this production a few years back, Wendy D, her hubby won a Paralympics gold medal as part of Australia's wheelchair basketball team the other night - Yippee! And - Oi! Oi! Oi!