(no subject)
am sat in this room in an aparment in milton keynes. the drive down from norwich was uneventful except for the couple of moments when the wind and rain escalated to near gale force intensity and shook the car. the town itself looks like a giant shopping mall with shops stretching every which way you see. guess we're here to bring some 'culture' to the place.
the last two weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind. time just zips by when you're travelling to and from each venue. stoke on trent was a huge industrial city on it's last legs. the incessent rain didn't help our moods when we were there. it seemed to be comprised of long highways which encircled the town and never really going into it, as if it was avoiding the glumness that seemed to hang like a shroud over the city. i have to admit that i felt quite depressed when i was there. one of the redeeming graces was that the room i rented was both cheap and really nice. the people of stoke are very friendly and will generally be nice to everyone they meet.
i really enjoyed the theatre in stoke though. it was a grand old theatre with an art deco style lobby that hinted at a glory of bygone days. the first night we performed there we were feted by the manchester friends of glyndebourne society. the reception itself was very fine though most of us decided to stay close to the food and drink and not so much the speeches that were made. the dressing room was quite small and we had to share.
norwich was quite a welcome relief after the week in stoke. i drove down in the first sunshine i'd seen in a week with john one of the dressers on the show. we decided to drop off my stuff at my digs before heading out to his and then dinner. after i settled in we headed off to his. this was the time the gps ran out of juice. fortunately, there were written instructions on how to get to his digs. unfortunately the instructions looked like they were translated by a machine from ancient sumerian. we wandered around the town for almost 2 hours getting increasingly frustrated at our inability to penetrate the meanings of text as well as the general lack of clear sign posting about the city. this was when i suspected that if the instructions were to be read out loud, it would open a portal to some unspeakable dimension and bring about the apocalypse.
it was just around the time that we were really about to lose our cool when the suggestion came to stop by the nearest pub, get a drink, relax and charge up the gps. it was the obvious thing to do really, but for some reason no one had seen it. once we had located said pub and had a beer in front of us, things got better. eventually the gps was charged up and we realised we were miles off where we needed to be.
i took the monday to explore the city and was taken by how beautiful it was. small lanes with very cool shops, a huge open air market, and a castle and cathedral was begging to be explored. it is a good thing that my suitcase is physically incapable of being stuffed with any more clothes which provided me with a potent reminder to not spend money.
the theatre in norwich was quite a challenge. the others had told me it was small but i had no idea how small until i walked in. it was quite a feat of engineering that we got some of the sets in there. the acoustics were fine but everything felt so cramped it was physically uncomfortable to walk down some of the corridors what with fairy wings and gnome bellies either gouging out an eye or smacking you against the wall. then there was also the matter of trying not to trip over lighting equipment. ah joys.
will go and check out the theatre here tomorrow morning. stomach's rumbling... time to eat!
the last two weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind. time just zips by when you're travelling to and from each venue. stoke on trent was a huge industrial city on it's last legs. the incessent rain didn't help our moods when we were there. it seemed to be comprised of long highways which encircled the town and never really going into it, as if it was avoiding the glumness that seemed to hang like a shroud over the city. i have to admit that i felt quite depressed when i was there. one of the redeeming graces was that the room i rented was both cheap and really nice. the people of stoke are very friendly and will generally be nice to everyone they meet.
i really enjoyed the theatre in stoke though. it was a grand old theatre with an art deco style lobby that hinted at a glory of bygone days. the first night we performed there we were feted by the manchester friends of glyndebourne society. the reception itself was very fine though most of us decided to stay close to the food and drink and not so much the speeches that were made. the dressing room was quite small and we had to share.
norwich was quite a welcome relief after the week in stoke. i drove down in the first sunshine i'd seen in a week with john one of the dressers on the show. we decided to drop off my stuff at my digs before heading out to his and then dinner. after i settled in we headed off to his. this was the time the gps ran out of juice. fortunately, there were written instructions on how to get to his digs. unfortunately the instructions looked like they were translated by a machine from ancient sumerian. we wandered around the town for almost 2 hours getting increasingly frustrated at our inability to penetrate the meanings of text as well as the general lack of clear sign posting about the city. this was when i suspected that if the instructions were to be read out loud, it would open a portal to some unspeakable dimension and bring about the apocalypse.
it was just around the time that we were really about to lose our cool when the suggestion came to stop by the nearest pub, get a drink, relax and charge up the gps. it was the obvious thing to do really, but for some reason no one had seen it. once we had located said pub and had a beer in front of us, things got better. eventually the gps was charged up and we realised we were miles off where we needed to be.
i took the monday to explore the city and was taken by how beautiful it was. small lanes with very cool shops, a huge open air market, and a castle and cathedral was begging to be explored. it is a good thing that my suitcase is physically incapable of being stuffed with any more clothes which provided me with a potent reminder to not spend money.
the theatre in norwich was quite a challenge. the others had told me it was small but i had no idea how small until i walked in. it was quite a feat of engineering that we got some of the sets in there. the acoustics were fine but everything felt so cramped it was physically uncomfortable to walk down some of the corridors what with fairy wings and gnome bellies either gouging out an eye or smacking you against the wall. then there was also the matter of trying not to trip over lighting equipment. ah joys.
will go and check out the theatre here tomorrow morning. stomach's rumbling... time to eat!