Background to the 'Bit of Background' :: Introducing Senga, Betsie and Tallulah!

I feel that it would be wrong to continue my blog and just gloss over the five month gap, as if I just had a massive sleep. On the other hand I am gagging to share the present. So with a drink by my side and a good CD playing I've settled myself down. I'll have a read over my blogs to date and see where I was at and then play 'join the dots' with the advantage I can move the dots to suit.

Well I've got half way through my personal recap and am realising I've missed bits out and its maybe not as clear as it could be. I'm thinking a retrospective re-blog might be needed.

Okay so I have made a list of things I should have said and things that I deliberately omitted at the time and think the clearest thing is starting from year dot, but with a bit of background first. 'Year dot' in this case is when I moved from Glasgow to Dyserth, a little village in North Wales, and the 'bit of background' is a potted history of my antics from leaving drama school to 'year dot'.

Are you sitting comfortably, then I shall begin ...

Background to the 'Bit of Background'

It all started just after Christmas 2004. My bestest mate in the whole wide world had returned from a week in deepest darkest arse Narnia (which is my favourite term for the back of beyond) having spent Christmas back home at his parents. Naturally being my best mate and only having mobiles, texts, emails, msn, carrier pigeons, the Royal Mail, smoke signals and flairs to keep in touch we felt like we been apart forever and a day. He suggested that I head over to his and we have a good old catch up over a bottle (litre naturally) and as his flat mate was away I could crash in her room, the next day we could sort out his place for the new year party. Well a little after new year I finally moved out of his flatmates room - probably in truth as she was due home.

Easter 2005 a similar thing happened and after a week and a bit of living together and getting up to our usual antiques and drunken nights - god that really doesn't limits it doesn't it - my best mate ...
[oh lord, I can't keep calling him 'my best mate' and saying his actual name seems wrong, sod it we shall call him by his drag name - not that he does drag, but one drunken night we discussed what our drag names would be. He is Senga Gloriosa and I'm Betsie (after I tried to coil a 30 meter length of rope around my arm like it was a washing line, he shouted over
"Ho Betsie, your washing-lines kinked hen!")
After many a drunken discussion and over time Betsie has developed an alter ego: Betsie when she is scrubbing floors and Tallulah! when she has a drink in her. Anyway I digress] ...
Senga said to me,
"If we have managed to live together this long without a row then maybe we actually could live together"
We have a habit of very spectacular rows, followed by quickly making up. Actually not so much making up, more like an episode of the Simpson's, we simply reset the next day. It works rather well.

Anyway I am telling a very short story long and to cut to the chase we decided that we could probably live together in the future.

A little footnote to all this.

• Senga and parcanboy have never slept together, and are both very relieved about this.
  
• Senga often passes out in Tallulah's! bed.
  (by this point in the evenings proceedings parcanboy and Betsie have given up and retired as characters from this evenings plot, leaving Tallulah! holding the fort).
• Senga and parcanboy are like an old married couple: we fight like cat and dog; have no sex life together; don't want a sex life together; we probably could each use the thought of the other naked as a delay tactic during coitus; love each other dearly (although seldom admit it) and would probably be lost without each other.
• Senga and parcanboy have never had 'one drink' but often go for 'one drink'.
• Betsie started writing this, Tallulah! is finishing it.
  

blog is back, back again

Well five months after my last post and on a new site I'm back - Cue 'ooh' and 'ahs'

This wont be a long post, but I've moved the bits from my blog on facebook over and I'm going to try to be more frequent with updating (or leaking 'titbits') and keep you all in the loop. I'm quite excited in an underwhelmed kinda way that random folk might start following this, well to be honest as long as some one does then I know my keystrokes won't be just for my own benefit.

I should be heading back out on the road with a new show and a new company (well for me at any rate) the week after next so there will be lots of 'titbits' to deseminate - anyone excited yet?

So thats all for now, I'm going to consider a third beer or straight to bed. Will probably be a beer in bed having a gander at the latest offering from youtube.

I know its been a while, but ...

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... I’m still alive btw

Okay so its been an age since I last updated my blog - sorry. I'm sat in the Stage Left Wing, Theatre Royal, Sydney, Australia, with my laptop in the alcove Lx have set up as their on stage office - personally i think it would make a good prop kitchen.

So we flew out of Wellington without any problems, I was kinda surprised by that given how many flights were cancelled. The apartments in Melbourne was nice enough etc. The theatre was a good venue, but outside had a strange Eiffel Tower like thing on top - apparently it sucks up all the humanity in the building, which seemed true enough. Had a few good nights out in Melbourne, drinking with the Edward Scissor Hands lot (randomly bumping into a dancer i knew and finding out that he was Edward), Thirsty Thursdays (regular theatre drinking session in Melbourne), erm think thats about it.

After that we were in Adelaide for a week. My high point was having an apartment with a bath. I celebrated by raiding The Body Shop & Lush, drinking vodka and reading The Guardian all in the bath, with Tori Amos on my iPod - I really need to get out more. That night Paul, my room mate, brought me a present after he had been at the clubs. He brought me a woman. A woman who was then sick over the side of the balcony. I didn’t mean to seem ungrateful, but I did tell him I would have preferred a take away or liquid ‘carry out’.

Next we flew to Sydney - four weeks without a move. Bliss.
However there was a catch, two hotel apartments and one hotel room. After our first night off in Sydney we moved hotels at 11am. Ordinarily that would have upset me a bit, but staying out dancing till 6 took the edge of my mood as i sat slumped in a corner in the bus. However a good sleep and a good dinner and I was as right as rain. (If your in Sydney and like a good steak book a table at the ‘Meat and Wine’ restaurant in Darling Harbour (near the IMAX) very good).

I haven’t done as much as I would have liked in Sydney, I lost a week to man flu and work kept getting in the way, but I’ve enjoyed what I have done. I’ve
- had a good wander around Sydney and done some shopping
- seen the Opera House and Harbour Bridge
- been to the aquarium (which was actual really really good) although I was gutted I didn’t see the platypus
- I’ve dance till 8.15 in the morning, bounded out of a club to find bright sunshine and people going to work
- Asked the Company Manger for Phantom if I could have a comp for Billy Elliot - easy mistake to make. (When she told me she was on Phantom, not Billy, I asked for a comp for that instead)
- Drunk lots at Thirsty Thursdays in Sydney
- Haven’t been to Wagamamas, even though its only two blocks away.
- Been hit on by one of the crew during the bump in, much hilarity for all, except her
- Didn’t drink for eight days
- Was sent home (for being sick)
- Phoned in sick, which i haven’t done since I started working
- read the paper in the park (simple pleasures)
- was dragged to drag queen karaoke
- found four of the radio soulwax cds that I was struggling to get in the UK
- got sunburn on my noise

erm think thats it
yeah that probably all the news I can put up on an open blog

we are off to Canberra next week for two weeks, Brisbane after that for one and then Perth for 2 weeks 2 days, then we fly back to the UK

all my love
x

Originally published on Live Blog on Facebook

Good Bye New Zealand

I’m sat in a bar, landside at Wellington Airport, its kinda wet outside and a lot of flights are being cancelled, but we are okay so far.

I’ve been in Wellington for a little over a week now and have seen little of Wellington. Kinda thinking I might try to come back to New Zealand in a few years time and actually see some of it.

Trying to think what is newsworthy

- well we had a massive glycol leak (antifreeze) into the ice rink on Tuesday last week, cancelled a show and then added an extra one, so every ones flights had to be rebooked, hotel accommodation extended, you get the idea.

- the get out from Auckland started at 5.30pm on the Sunday, ended at 10am on the Monday, we checked out of our hotel for 11am, went to the airport, flew at 1pm, were in the hotel in Wellington for 3pm, in the theatre for 6pm, worked till 10pm and then went in at 8am on the Tuesday to fit up. Was a busy few days. On yeah and then we took all the ice out on the Wednesday and started all over again with the ice rink.

The get out from Wellington wasn’t so painful. After the show cam down most of our guys and one team of locals started the load out at 10pm. Bob and I went back to the hotel and came in for 6am, when team two started and we released the first team. All of out guys (save Bob and I) went to the hotel. We then continued the load out till 2pm when our guys came back in. We were finished by 4pm

So i’ve now been to New Zealand and saw little of Auckland and even less of Wellington - oh well least I’m not paying for the flights. Hopefully I’ll see more of Australia.

Think its time I head to security, the gate opens in 10 minutes.

Originally published on Live Blog on Facebook

day eight at work - can i have a day off

I'm sat in the stalls of the ASB Theatre, Auckland, NZ, I think I'm here to see what the show looks like from out front, but as they keep stopping and starting I'm catching up on paperwork and my blog

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Arrived last Sunday and after a quick pit stop at the apartments a bunch of us headed out for dinner. A stones throw from the apartments is the theatre and a stones throw from the theatre is a fantastic steak house (and the Irish pub and ‘The London Bar’). After a very good steak, which although I enjoyed I wasn’t relay awake enough to fully enjoy.

On Monday morning we headed into work to find what Santa had brought us - Santa in this instance was the guys driving the shipment containers. Now for the next few days the usual nonsense of fitting up a show for the first time ensued, with one small, crucial, difference. Now in order to air freight the show everything must pack onto our air freight pallets at 3m x 3m. This means that all the flats (bits of set for those not in the business) need to be built in sections so they can be broken right down for our air freight moves. The flats have a metal frame and a timber cladding, but the timer cladding is bigger than the metal frame. the up shot was that every leg and every border (just think scenery) had a massive curve in it.

The curves in 80% of the set, all of which flys in a very crowded grid (the hanging plot is so very tight) has made for no end of problems. The carpenters who built it came over from Australia to fix things (which although now done) leaving us with a lot of spacers and hard backs to be added to the flats. (The timber can’t be cut down now without returning each piece to the paint workshop and even then it wouldn’t be that easy and time wouldn’t allow anyway.)

On Saturday we started technical rehearsals (that bit where bring together and artistic idea and a technical reality and try to meet somewhere in between). Sadly we have no props and a limited brief for the local prop buyer that I contracted (I have no idea where things are in Auckland and can’t get out to buy them) however with a suck-it-and-sea approach she appears with things and I pop them on stage until someone give an opinion either for or against. [For those familiar with the RSAMD, think CTP meets Royal Ballet on ice.]

The show itself will likely look amazing. There are some lovely moments and I (who doesn’t do dance) am held by it. Technically the show (running, not fitting up) isn’t that difficult, but the hanging plot, coupled with very quick live changes will make its interesting while the fly men get used to it. Prop and dressing wise, the only problem is the guesswork involved, but that should settle down as things progress. My other worry is operating the travel for the Foys (flying people). I’m getting used to it, but don’t like the fact its someone on the end of the line, rather than something that doesn’t feel pane when you travel it into the masking. The Foys cues are getting better with practice and (hopefully) its not forever (my Production Manager said he wanted English as first language operators for all flying until the show has bedded in, hence why I’m operating the travel).

The actors/ dancers/ skaters/ turns/ twirlers are amazingly good and patient. Not at all like turns and certainly nothing like a twirler, which is making things so much easier. I’m learning a little bit of Russian - okay so far my vocabulary is limited to ‘yes’ and ‘get ready’ (as i couldn’t get my tongue around the Russian for “stand by on stage please“) however when asked them to ‘get ready’ they looked blankly at me and said
“do you mean stand by?”

I am toying with the idea of getting a ‘teach yourself Russian’ pack - kinda thing i might get a chance to use it the coming year. I also found out the other day that our backstage calls are done in English and Russian, so anything that helps with that when I start learning the book wouldn’t be the worst idea.

Just realising that I haven’t said much about things out with work, well there is a reason for that, lol. We have been working three session days since we started and today we were supposed to be off, but ended up called for this morning. The apartments are fine, 2 bedrooms, bathroom, washing machine, oven, hob & microwave and are only a few minutes from the theatre. I’m sharing with Paul, our No 2 LX, who is fine, but the only weird thing is the long thin frosted glass window (that doesn’t open) between the two rooms. We decided the best thing to do was put a towel up on either side with drawing pins to stop the light spill from one room to the next.

Well i guess that’s all my news for now, other that work I’ve done little, that’s about the size of it, but our team are good and despite the long days and problems I’m having fun.

Originally published on Live Blog on Facebook