Funny night tonight. Not a bad night but a strange second half. “I’m sorry for fucking up the last scene,” said Venus after the show. “It was a joint effort,” I assured her. Because it was. Everyone but Cheryl was floundering around. It’s always been 50/50 as to if some of the cues are gonna come or not, but that’s likely because it’s always been 50/50 as to the cue lines come out right or at all.
Problem with it is it’s a courtroom drama, that last scene, and everyone on that stage including myself is right brain dominant. So all the hierarchy nonsense means nothing to any of us, we are very just pretending. Then there are some lines that are very very similar. I think a crucial sound effect might be cued on the word “evidence” which is always gonna be carnage in a courtroom drama. We might need to rethink that. I know my way through it but the thought changes are often embedded in other people’s lines, some of which never come and others of which come out of order.
Thankfully the writer was on stage with us. She helped us get back on track…
We didn’t go so far off piste as it felt from within. We just hit a jolt, had a bit of improv, a few omitted interjections and slightly crazy tech. It caused me to switch into attack-barrister mode as I know a multitude of sins can be covered by attack and I was lost in it for a moment. I’m not the happiest that it’s the version that was filmed… My John was there tonight, but that last scene was a bit of a drop. We all tried to keep the internal logic thread, and succeeded. But we could have served it much much better between us, even if we had just allowed a moment of silence instead of running our mouths. Just a bit of funny sound cueing is enough to whack the brain out, it seems.
A lovely show at Luton. Madness. Delight. Onwards.
