Habeas Corpus 4 (Opening Night)

I was nervous. Proper nervous. I suddenly thought "Hang on, do I really know what I'm doing? Shit - what's my first line?!" etc etc. Fortunately, I did know what I was doing and yes, I even knew my first line. Once I stepped out into those lights, the nerves were converted into energy, and we were off!

I arrived at the theatre slightly later than planned because of the traffic but i was still 2 hours early for the show. We sat in the dressing room chatting, chilling out and telling stories. I also took the time to prepare Dennis' spots.

I left my last blog with a bit of a cliff hanger regarding Dennis' spots. If you were sitting there begging me to tell you what my amazing plan was, you should probably consider getting one of those life thingies. But anyhoo, my great plan was that i would cut around the outside part of the spot and just stick the pimple part on my face. The best way to describe these spots is as a fried egg. Imagine cutting the egg white off the yolk, and sticking the yolk on your face. that's pretty much it. The spots lasted fairly brilliantly. Only lost two in the first act and maybe another two in the second. Though to be fair one of those was flicked of my face by the actress playing Lady Rumpers. After the show and once the audience had gone I went around the performance space hunting for my escapee spots. I found three.

I'm very happy (Though not as happy as our AD was) to inform you that the actress playing 'Muriel' who was taken ill, has managed to soldier on through the pain. She's on pain killers but that's commitment for you. A lesser person would've given up, but if you're serious about your craft, and that passion runs through your veins, come hell or high water, you're going on that stage and nothing's going to stand in your way.
Because of the pain her movement is somewhat limited. This meant that much of the action involving her needed to be reblocked very quickly. I haven't seen the changes as i've been in the wings and unable to see the performance space but the audiences thus far has been laughing away, so it must be working.

Anybody who has done theatre will know that opening night audiences are usually somewhat quiet and though they enjoy what they're seeing, they may not express it outwardly. This audience was of that ilk. Occassionally I caught sight of faces when the lights were not burning into my retinas and they were smiling lots. Which again, is good.