And then the heavens opened. All my little bucolic observations. Ahhh nature!? Nope. Sod that. We had to do a matinee from the Marianas Trench. Horizonal rain seeping into every unprotected crevice for hours and hours, with nothing to look forward to but more of it. Plummeting temperatures, slippery pathways, everything soggy. Oh hell.
The show ended with a grumbling and mutinous crew slumping back to the community centre damply. Animals of the woodland, swearing like troopers and emailing their agents. The collective noun for actors is “a moan of actors,” or so I’ve been told. I was one this afternoon. Everybody dialed up the energy as needed for the punters. As soon as they were done, so were we.
Lou is here though. A flying visit. Here today, gone tomorrow. So I stuck a smile on and we went for lunch and the smile turned out to be genuine, as they often do when you make the effort. I had soup and pasta, comfort food all the way. Then sleepily we made our way back to the unit base in time for the evening show.
It looked the same on the weather forecast. I think that had a lot to do with why you found us in such a foul mood at the end of the matinee. It looked like there would be torrential rain once more and all of us alone and gradually disintegrating in a meadow. This is why you can’t trust the weather forecast.
It’s 18.30. The birds are singing. There’s a gentle rush of wind, and a light dappling of evening sun drying the soaking grass in front of me. Charlie just came round with a cup of tea. It’s easy to forget how pissed off and sodden we all just were when we look at a happy bright newly mown meadow and a sky without so much as a hint of rain. There’s been a gap in the show – audience groups discouraged by the rain. I’ve been able to jot these thoughts down as I wait here for the next lot to come round the corner.
The weather changes everything. We are totally subject to the whims of the winds here. This won’t change for the next fortnight. Swift shifts from storm to calm, from rain to shine, all the way to the end of the run. Now we’ve seen it at its worst. And we’ve also seen how quickly it can change. I’m gonna stay positive. As how could I not … ?
The cup of tea helped as well though. And with Lou here, it’s hard to sink into just being soggy and grumpy.
AlBarclay 