I'll say this one is the penultimate post ... maybe.

It's all over ...

It was a successful season! As good as a sell out on the last night, good ticket sales generally and most importantly an artistically satisfying and happy ending to an amazing journey. I am quite emotional about the whole thing at the moment which is why I would like the opportunity to add to the blog in about a week or so to round off the story of A Midsummer Night's Dream 2008.

I am grateful and privileged to have had the opportunity to direct this play, work with the production crew, and have the actors honour their dedications with such passion (more to say about that as I go) ... And I did allow myself to bask a little in the audience glow after a couple of the shows ;-)

The cast also got me a present of an original art work commissioned from Emma. Emma was our script prompter and rehearsal photographer (not the ones in the other post but will put them up as they come) and she is also a talented artist. Susie, who played Titania and is me wifey, organised it ages ago and Emma did a spectacular job. It was presented to me between the matinee and closing night performances and I blubbered like ... well, like me ;-)

Susie mentioned in the presentation that I don't like the word 'proud' but she and the cast felt that I should be proud of the result of the rehearsal journey. I am wary of pride because of the easily evoked negative qualities of pride and its close relative arrogance ... It's one of my 'things' I suppose, some people have difficulty accepting compliments, some people worry needlessly about looks, a kilogram of misplaced weight or how good they are at the expense of others - but I worry about getting too carried away in pride. It could well be a Catholic thing ... you know seven deadly sins and all. But if I were to use pride/proud as part of my vernacular I would use it to describe the deep pleasure, joy and satisfaction of a job well done and the awe of watching those involved with this production enjoy their work (and frustration) alongside myself. None of this stuff works unless the people with you are willing to jump off the same cliff and I am humbled by the willingness everybody close to the production showed - and yes, I am shedding a tear or two of joy and appreciation as I type this. 

Thank you to my cast: Belinda, Malcolm, Philip, Rachel H, Rachel M, Sandra & Tony, Ben, Bill, Darcy, Gabi, Gemma, Ian, Jacque, Juliet, Katie, Luke, McKenzie, Peter, Rowan, Sam, Susie & Troy ... They worked their arses off, sacrificed a whole chunk of time and gave honour to their dedications and each other. As Barry White would say, "My unlimited love unto you all!"

I will make my production thank-yous in a couple of days ... but I am feeling particularly meditative right now so I might go and bask in the quiet solitude.

Not quite the last one ...

Before I wrap up this blog I wanted to share some show photos. Cast are listed left to right as best as possible:

Part of the great set designed by Simon.

Puck (Malcolm), Lysander (Ben), Helena (Rowan), Demetrius (Luke) & Titania (Susie)

Snout (Tony) & Bottom (Sam) / Flute (Gemma) & Snout

Bottom (Sam) / Oberon (Guru) & Titania

Hippolyta (Katie) & Theseus (Bill) / Quince (Gabi), 'What's his name' (Ian), Bottom, Flute, Snout & Snug (Philip)

Rosebud (Darcy), Titania, Bottom, Moth (Belinda), Peaseblossom (Rachel H), Cobweb (Jacque), Wattle (Juliet), Mustardseed (Sandra) & Grevillea (McKenzie) / Hermia (Rachel M) Puck & Lysander 

Cobweb, Moth, Mustardseed, Grevillea, Wattle (eyes) & Peaseblossom / Puck & Peaseblossom

Egea (Juliet) & Hermia

I slept in my bed last night ;-)

It's one of the amazing things when I get tired - I can sleep anywhere and I do! 

My recliner becomes my surrogate bed and has a nice ass groove. I had plummeted into sleep in my recliner on Tuesday and Wednesday night but last night I managed to get myself into bed and fall into a comfortable satisfied sleep ... Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!

We got some lovely praise from local ABC radio presenter Nick Rheinberger today, who came to see the show yesterday morning. He said it was the best thing he'd seen and played some interviews he did with one of the Altogether and one of the Workshop actors. 

The show itself just gets better and better ... it's a real joy to watch and I am such a sook that every night my emotions rise and I have a joyous tear. There's three more times to enjoy the fruits of our labours and I look forward to each second ....

More to come tomorrow :-)

First show all wrapped ...

Well the first show was a triumph of tired and ill bodies but the audience enjoyed the spectacle and I swear some people released a couple of drops of wee they were laughing so hard!

I've decided that some of the residual problems to solve will or won't get solved depending on the magnanimity of others and there's not much I can do about that except to say poo to them and enjoy the show!

It's been an intense 72 hours really ... amidst all the time spent in the theatre I had an interview for my PhD at Uni of Wollongong which was organised at the 11th hour because of a paper work snafu. I think it went okay but I was way too pre-occupied with self affairs to give it too much nervous attention ... hmmm, maybe that was a good thing. I also only got 3 hours sleep last night so, needless to say, but I am a vague wreck this evening. 

I'm full of ... shit!? maybe ... no! That's not what I meant to say, there are many emotions whirring around the ole brain box at the moment so I'll sign off tonight and leave you with a quote from one of my favourite TV shows: Twin Peaks ...

Achievement is its own reward, pride only confuses the issue.

Oh my goodness where did my night go!?

Okay, it's insanely late and I need to get to bed before we get up for opening performance!

Set the scene ... It's 2.53am! I need to be awake at 8am!

I'll go backwards from here ... Last night was our last dress rehearsal which went smoothly on stage whilst we ironed out some technical issues. I'm glad to say we're at the stage where what is needed now is an audience to inject that necessary vibe to take the show to the next level.

We've had videographers and photographers everywhere the last couple of nights so we are being well documented.

The night before was clunky as most technical rehearsals are: juggling lighting states that don't quite fit, and cd players that are funky in their use, and actors needing to get used to new lights and new surrounds. I was at the theatre from 9am till 10.30pm ... cocooned in a bizarre womb of creativity and frustration. I'm a little disappointed that some of the techie stuff from the venue seems to have been left till the last minute and there's a feeling that we haven't had the fullest of support from the venue ... but, being late at night, I'm tempted to say plplplplplplplplpl! :-P

We've done some very interesting publicity for the show over the last week or so and we've impressed everywhere we went ... I hope a few 'beautiful' people come to the show because I reckon they'll be blown away by the quality of it and the cast and crew deserve as much kudos and applause as an appreciative audience and director can heap on them because they deserve it. 

So ... to opening show! The tradition in the theatre is to say 'break a leg' or 'chookas' as there's a superstition about good luck. I don't say either of these, one because I broke my leg during the run of a show I was doing (not on stage) and when I got back it became the joke of the theatre to say ... you guessed it - 'break a leg' ad infinitum till I could burst! The other reason is that my Mum gave me the funnniest interpretation of 'chookas' when she misheard it and wished me 'chookies'! I love chooks and I can't go past this humourous take on the theatre tradition. 

So, till next eve I wish everyone a hale and hearty Chookies!!!

Signing off at 3.15am .... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

T minus 3 days and counting ...

My heart actually sang a little today!

Which is in stark contrast to the way I felt after Thursday night's rehearsal!

I didn't, nay, couldn't post after Thursday night as I was in a state of animated frustration and dismay as the 300lb Gorilla in my anxiety closet began dismantling the closet and flinging faeces around, helicopter fashion, as I hid myself under the bed!

Twas a storm in a tea-cup (errr - tea barrel?) but getting any kind of disruptive news at this stage of the production is, well, unsettling. So, in an effort to be a 'glass-half-full' guy today I will focus on some positives ... The rehearsal itself went well on Thursday night but by the end of the evening I wasn't in any mood to appreciate it.

Today went even better with only the most minor of stumbles. And I can say today that we have a show! A full uninterrupted run through was a relief and a pleasure to watch - I think I spontaneously smiled several times (actually, I was hiding tears of joy several times as well). 

I honestly feel, as I have always felt deep down, that this is a show that will impress people and impress them in a way that will not require them to engage their pity meters ... you know what it sounds like, "oh well, at least their trying". 

It was also a wonderful honour to the personal dedications I asked the cast to make last week. To explain ...

One of the things I like to do when I direct a show - have I mentioned this? I don't think so - is I get the cast to meditate for a moment and make a dedication of their efforts to a person/people in their lives who have been supportive/inspirational to them. The theory being that it takes the effort of rehearsals and performance out of the narcissistic and into the realm of an offer outside of oneself (to the family, community, world, cosmos) for the work being done. I don't ask the actors who the dedications have gone to but I always mention mine ... My acting mentor Les Shaw and my sister Samantha who passed away within a fortnight of each other in 1996.

Les was a part, in fact the main force behind, The Blue Cow Childrens Theatre that I mentioned in a previous post. As artistic director he prodded, enquired, cajoled, poked, annoyed and inspired performances I could only of dreamed of developing previous to my meeting him. My sister Sam died two weeks before Les due to complications brought on by her alcoholism - she was 28.

One of the nicest stories shared with me about a personal dedication was in a production of Blood Wedding that I directed last year (2007) ... The actor told me that she had dedicated her show to her late husband who had worked as a lighting designer and she knew that he would have loved to have designed a show like Blood Wedding. She had decided that she wanted to share that with me because of the way she felt about the show ... I was touched and teary.

And now I'm tired and vague ... it will most likely be a daily blog from here on in so keep your eyes and ears peeled!

Goodnight.

Supplemental post ...

Two insights that came today as I twitch with nervous tension and anticipation ...

Kim Beazley was always a blithering wreck leading up to and on election day because he always felt he was sure that no one would vote for him ... he was a politician for 27 years! And he retired and wasn't voted out! Guess he just didn't take things for granted. If you've been reading the blog closely you might hear a little of that story in the way I feel leading into production week ... it's one of the reasons I'm not a good sideline spectator and I like to do tech stuff for the shows I direct. I get great satisfaction watching actors do their thing once the show is underway.

I do this theatre stuff because I love it, it's always from the heart and not to put too finer point on it, it sustains me. I have no status anxiety about the work I do, I don't believe I'll be an important man or that doing these things will lead to wider recognition and kudos. The achievements of a successful show are there to be enjoyed by all, everyone who has put in and facilitating that process (despite the nervous tension) is of the greatest joy to me. It is sometimes difficult in the ebb and flow of a production to notice the great things going on when you're sweating the small details and, instead of wondering if anyone will vote for you, wondering if anyone will come and see the show.

My second insight came when I thought about how in the midst of a thunder storm, the lashing rain, the lightning strikes, the general darkness, over cloud top the sun is still shining. It's a bit Oprah I know, and it's as far as I'll push that particular metaphor, but I know that the storm will clear and I will love every hilarious moment, every dropped line, every corpsing moment during the play as I give the music it's volume.

Just wanted to share ... me, the Gorilla and the Big Blue Iguana are still taking high tea - anyone want to join us?

Sat/Sun 11/12 October

It's getting better!

But I am still worried. No surprise there ... but, I don't suppose anyone wants to embarrass themselves out there so I'll just hang on to that flimsy piece of balsa wood hope for the moment. 

On Saturday we got to rehearse in a nice big space in the building next door to our theatre. It's still not as big as the stage space we'll be performing on but it gave us more room to range. Lines are still a problem here and there ... what else can I say about this one?

Sunday back in Workshop Theatre working on the problematic second act and it started coming together a little more - there's hope in them thar hills! I explained to the cast that I wanted them to be pretty much performance ready so that when we hit the stage at the Bruce Gordon Theatre, in the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, we wont be wasting our time tripping over lines whilst adjusting to the performance space.

I am reminded about something, Annie, an actor friend said to me once ... the rehearsals are the most creative period of a production, character creation, costumes, music, lights, all get played with and set into place during rehearsals. There is a certain creativity in performance to be sure but I think Annie is right. When I'm performing I certainly try hard not to lose that creative opportunity in boredom and such undermining stuff - but as a director, I'm never bored!

I like stories.

I was asked on facebook earlier this evening if I am getting excited and I replied that I felt like there were 1000 butterflies in my stomach all throwing up at once! I am excited and nervous and tense and scared and a whole host of other emotions colliding in and out of my brain like Higgs boson particles (you'll have to google that one). It's getting pretty exciting out there ...

A funny story I forgot to tell from after last Thursday's rehearsal: Our stage manager Tessa was leaving the theatre after rehearsals and she forgot to take her script off the bonnet of her car. As she left the driveway of the theatre the script slid off the bonnet and straight into the drain on the road! Is this a portent of doom or a comment on how I was feeling after Thursday? I can't be sure but I'm hoping it was the latter. ;-)

We managed to get the lid of the drain open and retrieve the folder and no rats were sited nor sewage disturbed - Phew! 

So it all ended well ... and as Bill Collins would say, "There's something in that for all of us."

Lorks-a-lordy!!!

Somebody fetch me some oil before the rusty gate falls off the hinges!!!

Oh boy, tonight was a mixture of frustration, delight, despair, derailment, trumpet envy and a little stick throwing.

I am personally astounded I need to beg people to be at rehearsals, or at least beg them to give me timely warning of their viral absences, at this stage of rehearsals, only four more rehearsals you know, sure she'll be all right on the night, I'm sure that's what the band on the deck of the Titanic where thinking as the cold water lapped their ankles and caused their Violins to shudder just a little ... Yikes, kinda wandered off there. I also wish I wasn't so exacting and maybe a little more laissez faire ... but that ain't me. I come from nervous Hungarian and just plain crazy Dutch stock; so me and the 300lb Gorilla that lives in my anxiety closet get on just fine.

I was more frustrated than angry tonight, as were a few of the cast members, I know everyone is trying hard and it has been a big ask to this point and it only gets more fraught as we move on into the production week proper. But, it is the eternal frustration of the director ... yaddah yaddah yaddah: lines, lines, lines, fine tuning, are we having fun yet?

This week I did go and record some Didgeridoo for the soundtrack to the play and I'll get to work on that on Monday (touch wood) ... apart from some Hungarian inspired music for the rude mechanicals, and beautiful madrigal style music for the fairies, there will be some Ukulele and Trombone action to brighten up the action.

Costumes are also coming along nicely.

We'll give the PIA score a miss tonight because I just don't know how to rate it - tomorrow will be better, tomorrow will be better, Krusty is coming, Krusty is coming.

This has been one huge week and I'm one weary director right now ... at least a couple of hours sleep for me ... I'm outta here to throw some bananas at the Gorilla, see ya on the weekend.

A few random thoughts as we round into the home stretch!

I once wrote this line in a poem about the light at the end of the tunnel and wondered if it might be the devil holding a torch ... you know - a kind of karmic snickering at the folly of things!

So, here we stand, a long weekend in front of us, no rehearsal for a week, plenty to do, and not much to say that hasn't been said already. At the rehearsal tonight the first half to interval went smoothly and the second half swung like a rusty gate. In sporting parlance we're heading into the finals and it's mostly up to the players to do what they need to do - learn their lines and turn up on time! 

I thought it would be an opportune time to mention some of my favourite parts of the script. The challenge when adapting the script was to keep some semblance of the rhythm in the more poetic parts of the script. I didn't manage to keep strictly to the famous Iambic Pentameter of Shakespeare but I got close - it's hard to fit Billabong and Eucalyptus into that particular rhythmic structure! 'Spartan dogs' have been changed to the local 'Dapto dogs' and 'palace' has been changed to 'The Castle' or 'homestead'. Other references to Australian popular culture have also been put in such as, a reference to Scott and Charlene from Neighbours, a reference to the colloquial saying - 'he could speak under water with his mouth full of marbles' as well as other colloquialisms like 'bugger' and 'oi!' 

It was fun working on the script to make it more user friendly but there's just some stuff that just doesn't need touching like this amazing piece of alliteration from Peter Quince: 

"Then, with a blade, with a bloody blameful blade,

He bravely broached his boiling bloody breast."

Say that three times quickly!

Well it's quite late now and I think I will digest and post again after the weekend ... Goodnight sweet people.