Trying to keep myself asleep for my 4am wee backfired on me spectacularly when I actually fell asleep on my feet and woke up in the bath.
Early morning saw me haring up through the side streets of Chelsea, through Flower Show crowds determined to get squished. I parked at South Kensington. Queue at Pret. Queue at Starbucks. No queue at the little Italian Illy place that does far and away the best coffee of the three.
Exam started at ten. Went on until shortly before one. A very organised extra time student maximising her rest breaks. Back to Pret for a Crayfish and Rocket and then I’m on the go again up to Beaconsfield.
Some young makers have written a script about Scottish geese. Four actors who have never met before. We were in a very warm soundproof booth. They played some honking and then by God we all honked. Happy honking, sexy honking, scared honking, triumphant honking. My throat feels strange.
Glass of water and then all sorts of words. Everything out of order, playfulness where possible, doing that thing that actors do at work where everyone is dropping anecdotes and bits of gossip. It all helps us stay healthy. We got it all in the can but with no time for Jammy Dodgers. I drank about three small bottles of water to combat the honking in heat. I look forward to hearing how that all hangs together. I only heard one person say “We’ll fix that in post”.
In years to come I’ll run into one of those actors again. Maybe an audition, who knows. “We’ve done something together, I’m sure of it.” That’s what we will say. We probably won’t track it all back to one strange hot afternoon pretending to be migrating Scottish geese. But who knows, maybe the shared hilarity of today’s work will get us both the job we are meeting for. If they ever start doing in person auditions again, that is.
We finished the geese and I hauled ass to Brighton. A bit more time with Lou. I’ve been looking forward to the catch up but we are both so busy. This is a window, even though she’s working all day tomorrow. We’ve got Sunday and Monday. Honk.
Beautiful weather. Shame about the noisy party somewhere nearby. But I’m so tired I’ll probably sleep through it.
AlBarclay 