2021: April to June
2021 - snapshots of a year
April to June
April - Look At Me, Don’t Look At Me - RashDash
Yesterday, knowing that I was going to write this entry, I listened to one of the demo tracks from the show. I had the same physical reaction as I did the first time Jamie (Associate LD) and I showed up, via zoom, to rehearsal with Becky and Abbi. It is a feeling of relief, and gratitude, I think. A feeling of falling backwards into the brilliant and beautiful and bold music of RashDash.
Abbi and Becky
That show, and the virtual production week which followed (I was in Edinburgh, the rest of the team in London) saved me a little, I think, after the long pandemic hiatus. It reminded me what making theatre is all about, and how good it can be. I wrote a thread at the time, here, which talks about some of the good stuff, but doesn’t cover how it feels to dance to a RashDash dress in the sunlight of my office, while the words and the music and the dance meld together 400 miles away.
Becky
May into June
I did a show in May and the first part of June. There were some really good things about it: connecting with old friends; staying in the quaintest cottage in the country; an excellent programmer; the spring sunlight; eating healthily in production week for the the first time I can remember; a great director, and one actor in particular being a genius. The good stuff, y’know.
But the Covid safety was pretty shocking. We started out on devolved nation rules (we were in one of the devolved nations), then moved through English rules to no rules. The studio theatre had no ventilation at all and was never aired. There were issues with mask wearing. I tried to talk to the production manager but he didn’t want to know. I feel a bit sick in my stomach writing about it.
And just before the production week began on that one, Chris Goode died. I think there is probably a different blog post about Chris and the revelations and the impact. But for now, I will just remember the many phone calls, inside that little cottage in the valley, and by the stream outside, trying to make sense of the world.
June - These Hills Are Ours at ARC
I went straight to from that show, via a beautiful ‘take the slow road’ travel day, to production week at ARC in Stockton for Dan Bye and Boff Whalley’s These Hills Are Ours, which I directed as well as lit.
The experience was a very different one: a tiny team (just Dan, Boff, me and the mighty Louise Gregory as production manager) with the beloved Nick from ARC supporting technically, and cameo visits from the ARC team. Seeing Annabel and Daniel from ARC after so long felt a bit like coming home.
Despite being in England, Covid safety was WILDLY better, so it felt like the foundations we were working on were solid and the stress I had felt on the last show wasn’t there. That created room to experience the real joy in the work. We’d been due to go into production with this show a month after lockdown happened in 2020 and so had instead been doing light touch online rehearsal and sharing at various points in 2020/21. The show was so ready to be on a stage, and in front of an audience, and putting it together that week in ARC was just pure joy, really.
I remember sitting outside a country pub having dinner one night after rehearsal. The warmth in the air. The work friends you love. The apple crumble for pudding.
Dan and Boff. Not in ARC. But definitely doing their thing.