May - Gunpowder/Treason/Plot, beards, victoriansFawkes,
Nggh. The summer work crush has well and truly set in. It's not quite shaping up to be the 108 day run that I did last year, but the last few weeks have certainly been busy.
The Gunpowder Plot show at the Tower of London was great and went down really well. I was originally cast as Robert Cecil (cruel authority figure bordering on pantomime villain which me and my beard seem to get a lot), but a sudden command decision by the director swapped the Cecil and Fawkes casting. I was obviously pleased to suddenly be the character that everyone had heard of and, though initially kind of disheartened to realise how few lines I had and afeared that this meant I wasn't valued/respected as a performer, ultimately I discovered that Fawkes' role had be written in such a way that his every line had to fall like a hammer and that even when he was silent he had to be non-vocally expressing so goddamn much. And, of course, I had by far the easiest job in getting visitors to engage during the 'Meet and Greet' periods.
Mind you, on the first day of performance I managed to smash my head on the cobbles twice while being thrown woughly to the floor. My spatial and body awareness is okay, but the space where the promenade performance concludes turns out to be on a slope and my head was hitting the cobbles four inches before my feet were suggesting it should. Ow! The new Tower team leader is a stage combat specialist and gave me some stage fall training, with the result that I managed the rest of my shifts with nothing more than skinned knees.
Role assignment generally remains constant, but the cast of performers is rarely the same two days running, and I actually ended up playing Cecil for a day when I covered a shift for someone else. It was very odd indeed to play the other side of the show while someone else played Fawkes, especially since (despite the fact the guy was a professional actor) I found myself disagreeing with some of his choices. Still, the team leader told me that I was his favourite of the three Fawkes' and jessiroarrr came to see it on the last day and was very much moved (in no small part because the off-stage tortured screams were in her brother's voice...), so I'll chalk it up as a win. A great role and enormously enjoyable. Hurrah!
There were many positive comments from the senior management as well (which is always nice), but the thing I noticed most was how many admiring looks and comments I got on my outfit and beard. While my beard is exceptionally fine at the moment, in nigh on twenty years of dressing up for a living I have never had so many people (colleagues and tourists) saying how good I looked or wanting to be near me and have their photo taken. My specialist period has always kind of tailed off with the death of Henry VIII and the Fawkes thing was a little outside my comfort zone, but I'm suddenly thinking I need to expand to early Stuart if this is the kind of attention I attract!
The admiration/compliment thing continued over the BH weekend as I did Victorian at Audey End House. Victoriana is hundreds of years after I've stopped paying attention but I was assured that, since I was simply running children's activities and games, I wouldn't be expected to know any history. Still, it seems the power of a bushy beard and a curled moustache must not be underestimated. I'd have thought myself utterly outclassed by the Gatling gun and the uniformed cavalry, but once again got many compliments from people who matter (i.e. can put gigs my way) on my work and my beard. I _had_ been thinking I was long overdue a serious trim, but am now thinking I'd be better to invest in a beard comb and a pot of moustache wax.
A couple of weekends at Dover Castle and a couple of gigs with Trouvere, but nothing remarkable enough to warrant especial mention.
Southsea prep - God, but it's hard work this year. The short lead in time between "you have the contract" and having to be there hasn't helped, but I now have a three year contract so shouldn't have such problems again until 2014 (if I bid for the contract rather than deciding that 18 years is enough). I'm used to someone dropping out almost as soon as I've completed the roster, but there's been several late reshuffles this year. Biggest pain in the arse has been accommodation, however. Since we can no longer live in the castle itself, we have to live out and three attempts to sort that out have thus far come to nothing. The campsite with cheap caravans was soul destroying, the great house was suddenly pulled from the letting market, and the letting agency tried to rip me off. All being well, however, I should be signing contracts and exchanging money for keys on Thursday. I could really do without losing a day of packing to yet another trip to Pompey, but it's no good having a contract and a cast if I have nowhere for them to rest their weary heads.
The Gunpowder Plot show at the Tower of London was great and went down really well. I was originally cast as Robert Cecil (cruel authority figure bordering on pantomime villain which me and my beard seem to get a lot), but a sudden command decision by the director swapped the Cecil and Fawkes casting. I was obviously pleased to suddenly be the character that everyone had heard of and, though initially kind of disheartened to realise how few lines I had and afeared that this meant I wasn't valued/respected as a performer, ultimately I discovered that Fawkes' role had be written in such a way that his every line had to fall like a hammer and that even when he was silent he had to be non-vocally expressing so goddamn much. And, of course, I had by far the easiest job in getting visitors to engage during the 'Meet and Greet' periods.
Mind you, on the first day of performance I managed to smash my head on the cobbles twice while being thrown woughly to the floor. My spatial and body awareness is okay, but the space where the promenade performance concludes turns out to be on a slope and my head was hitting the cobbles four inches before my feet were suggesting it should. Ow! The new Tower team leader is a stage combat specialist and gave me some stage fall training, with the result that I managed the rest of my shifts with nothing more than skinned knees.
Role assignment generally remains constant, but the cast of performers is rarely the same two days running, and I actually ended up playing Cecil for a day when I covered a shift for someone else. It was very odd indeed to play the other side of the show while someone else played Fawkes, especially since (despite the fact the guy was a professional actor) I found myself disagreeing with some of his choices. Still, the team leader told me that I was his favourite of the three Fawkes' and jessiroarrr came to see it on the last day and was very much moved (in no small part because the off-stage tortured screams were in her brother's voice...), so I'll chalk it up as a win. A great role and enormously enjoyable. Hurrah!
There were many positive comments from the senior management as well (which is always nice), but the thing I noticed most was how many admiring looks and comments I got on my outfit and beard. While my beard is exceptionally fine at the moment, in nigh on twenty years of dressing up for a living I have never had so many people (colleagues and tourists) saying how good I looked or wanting to be near me and have their photo taken. My specialist period has always kind of tailed off with the death of Henry VIII and the Fawkes thing was a little outside my comfort zone, but I'm suddenly thinking I need to expand to early Stuart if this is the kind of attention I attract!
The admiration/compliment thing continued over the BH weekend as I did Victorian at Audey End House. Victoriana is hundreds of years after I've stopped paying attention but I was assured that, since I was simply running children's activities and games, I wouldn't be expected to know any history. Still, it seems the power of a bushy beard and a curled moustache must not be underestimated. I'd have thought myself utterly outclassed by the Gatling gun and the uniformed cavalry, but once again got many compliments from people who matter (i.e. can put gigs my way) on my work and my beard. I _had_ been thinking I was long overdue a serious trim, but am now thinking I'd be better to invest in a beard comb and a pot of moustache wax.
A couple of weekends at Dover Castle and a couple of gigs with Trouvere, but nothing remarkable enough to warrant especial mention.
Southsea prep - God, but it's hard work this year. The short lead in time between "you have the contract" and having to be there hasn't helped, but I now have a three year contract so shouldn't have such problems again until 2014 (if I bid for the contract rather than deciding that 18 years is enough). I'm used to someone dropping out almost as soon as I've completed the roster, but there's been several late reshuffles this year. Biggest pain in the arse has been accommodation, however. Since we can no longer live in the castle itself, we have to live out and three attempts to sort that out have thus far come to nothing. The campsite with cheap caravans was soul destroying, the great house was suddenly pulled from the letting market, and the letting agency tried to rip me off. All being well, however, I should be signing contracts and exchanging money for keys on Thursday. I could really do without losing a day of packing to yet another trip to Pompey, but it's no good having a contract and a cast if I have nowhere for them to rest their weary heads.