off! 12 February 2009
Well, tis done and the show is up and running. We’re all a bit relieved (and hungover today if received texts are anything to go by). Press/opening nights are always strange – there is this huge expectancy and an unnatural feeling of having to prove something ‘special’ above and beyond any other performance so it’s rarely a show’s best outing. Our audience enjoyed themselves hugely but we didn’t because of all of the tension and stress, and we were convinced it didn’t run as smoothly as it might have. Having said that, no one but ourselves would really have known that or spotted the bits we thought should go better. It’ll be nice to settle into the run proper now, for the paying public who get so many different things out of the show than critics ever will – and that’s what it’s all about now, the audience.
I feel as if I have been living underground for weeks. I don’t know what’s going on in the world as I haven’t read a paper or seen any tv news in ages. Oddly disengaged, I am, but today has been SLOW to spark so I’ll become a proper citizen of the world again tomorrow when my poor battered body and brain are back to ‘normal’ – till then I’ll be needing what’s left to throw meself around the Olympia theatre stage tonight. It’s odd to know exactly what I’ll be doing and saying, even, every night but Sunday for the next 4 weeks…nearly down to the minute. What a strange way to make a living…but, hey, dat’s showbiz!
