Another week down!

So here we are.  Another week done and another 250 who have seen the play. 

After my first show on Tuesday at Theatre Mwldan (on the raised stage) we then moved on to the slightly smaller Wyeside in Builth Wells in Mid Wales.  This theatre is actually the closest theatre to my in-laws and I think I probably knew half of the audience thanks to my mother in law Lynne badgering all the residents of Knighton, her hometown to come.

There is always something special about performing in front of people who know you but have never seen you act before. People who know that you are an “actor” but only ever hear you talk about it.  I suppose this isn’t technically true for me as most people I know have at least caught a glimpse of me on Coronation Street but that is so different from watching someone up close and personal.  Some people have said to me that It’s like I am not there on the stage, Krissi dissapears.  This is one of the highest compliments you can receive as an actor and is especially wonderful to hear from someone who knows you.  

After Builth we moved on to The Everyman in Cheltenham.  We had 3 nights here so we actually got a chance to relax instead of being constantly on the go which was lovely.  Cheltenham is our smallest venue so far.  The studio only seats 50 and the audiences feet were on the flooring that marks out my playing area. Talk about close!!

  My mum came to visit and watched the show on the Thursday and Friday (my mum and Ben are currently tied on 3 shows each – who will win overall?!).  We had various old family friends watching on both nights and for them not only was it the first time seeing me on stage but also the first time seeing me in 15ish years!  Little Krissi had grown up!

We sold out 2 out of 3 shows in Cheltenham which was really great.  I also got my first 5* review from stagetalk magazine.  I’ve never had 5 stars before and I must admit it feels quite nice!  I would love it if someone actually came in person and gave you your stars.  Could you imagine?!! You’d wait for a knock on your door and it would be someone with a box wrapped in gold with a bow, asking you to sign for your stars!  Oh maybe I’ll start a business – companies can arrange star delivery through me!

Oooops – Gone off on a tangent!

This week we have performances at The North Wall Arts Centre in Oxford (sold out!!!), Bolton Octagon and Square Chapel Halifax.  All different theatres and all with their own challenges! I can’t wait!

Whilst I am on stage on Wednesday night my lovely friends over at Coronation Street will be working flat out on their  LIVE episode going out at 7.30pm.  I’m sure it will be amazing and I look forward to catching up with it at the weekend.   Special shout out to my pal Laura McAteer who will be herding a ridiculous amount of background artist around and doing her job so well you will have no idea she’s done anything at all!

One day I’d love to do a live episode of something on TV, but right now I’m having the best time performing live every night (well not quite every night but you get the gist!!)

Tara for now. 

A stage!!!!

So here we are at our first venue of the week.  Theatre Mwldan, a lovely venue in Cardigan, West Wales.  I always knew this was a big theatre (I think it holds about 250?) so I was prepared for that but what I wasn't prepared for was a stage.

A STAGE?!  You are probably thinking, you're an actor, what is wrong with a stage?  The answer is nothing, but so far in the tour I have never been on a traditional raised stage!  I've always been on the same level as the front row.

During the play there are bits where I share the story with the audience, talking directly to them and it feels bizarre that I will be looking down at some of them.  It almost feels like I am a bit separate from them rather than being with them...

The audience have allocated seating in this venue though so I can see by looking at the seating plan that people aren't even all grouped together. Although the majority are in the front/middle of the auditorium there are still a good number scattered around in other places.

I asked one of the guys helping us whether they would all move and sit in the middle and he quite rightly said that some people want to sit in specific seats no matter what. So I will have a few people at the back and some at the sides as well as the main group.  It will be interesting to say the least!!

I am just waiting for stage manager extraordinaire Kate to finish focusing the lights before I go in and we run through the play with me on stage to see how it all looks and feels. I'm sure it will all be fine but it made my heart beat a little faster for a few seconds!! 

Who'd have thought - an actor who gets scared when they see a stage!!

First Week down!

Well what a crazy week it has been. Since my last blog I have performed the show 4 times in 3 different venues which in themselves have all been very different! 

First we had Lancaster.  We performed in The Round, their smaller space which yes you've guessed it - is in the round! Normally the audience sits all the way around the stage. Now for our show we took away one end of the audience which effectively left us with a horseshoe shaped seating area. This meant for certain parts of the show I would stand in different places and have different lights on me. Another lot of things for me to think about!! Hoorah!!

We had our lighting designer with us again for this venue so she could have a look at how her design worked in this layout of theatre so later on in the tour we can replicate it in other venues that our similar.

Once all the lighting and sound was sorted (which takes most of the afternoon) we did the show.  I found I had severe second night syndrome.  After the buzz of the opening night (and 4 days off) I found it really hard!! It felt like I was forgetting my lines and was flying by the seat of my pants the whole time. But actually it was fine. The audience were with me every step of the way and the response we got from the show was just amazing.

We had a reviewer there too:

http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/the-bogus-woman-the-dukes-lanc-12020

After the show there was a brief post show discussion and then we packed up the van and went on our way!

After a night in the nearest travelodge we headed back to my hometown of Manchester!! 

The main house at Z-Arts is completely different to the first two venues. It was huuuuuge! It felt like a cave! 

Once the set was in and the lights focussed it was fine though and both shows were very well received.  It was lovely having my friends in to watch me and of course the fact I got to sleep in my own bed was just amazing!

Or last show of this week was Derby - this was our smallest venue so far. The stage are was about 1.5m smaller that what we had had before so I lost the top part of my set and I still had the audiences feet on the front of the playing area. I think I almost squashed someone's toes during one part of it! 

Because the spaces are so different there are always various bits that can be changed depending on where the audience is. I think this versatility makes the show extra special. We could pretty much perform it in any theatre size or layout now (although I'm not sure it would work on a 1000 seater theatre!!) 

The week ahead is another fairly busy one with 5 shows in 3 different venues, Theatre Mwldan in Cardigan (West Wales), The Wyeside, Builth Wells (mid Wales) and Cheltenham Everyman. 

I'm excited and looking forward to the next lot of challenges whatever they may be! 

We're doing it!! Yaay! 

Real Life problems!

Yesterday, my one and only full evening in Manchester before the tour gets underway didn’t quite go to plan.

Our lovely car (which we have only had for 2 months) decided it didn’t want to work anymore so instead of going to peruse the aisles of aldi (god I’ve missed Aldi) and spending the evening watching rubbish telly with Ben,  we spent it sitting in the car park of my gym, waiting for a tow truck to arrive. (Which when it did was a recovery vehicle, a huge thing that would not fit down the road of where we normally park are car anyway)

Having never had a car before and knowing very little we had no idea what was wrong with it and the recovery vehicle man said it was probably the gear box, or the clutch or something that he could not fix so we decided to leave the car there (crossing our fingers that she would be there in the morning)and get the bus home. 

Aside from all the obvious thoughts going through my head like where do you find a mechanic, how much will this cost etc I was also thinking – I HAVE A BLOODY SHOW TO THINK ABOUT!!

It was all very well saying I needed to get it picked up by a mechanic but I was getting picked up myself at 2pm the next day to be taken to Lancaster where I need to do a show.  How dare the universe send me real life problems!!  The main things I wanted to be thinking about were,  do I know my lines, do I have my props,  have I remembered which way I’m facing.  Easy actor problems.  Not my sodding car!!

We managed to call a mechanic who agreed to meet me at the car at 9.30am (the start of what was supposed to be my relaxing morning, going over my script and packing up my stuff for a couple of nights away).  He was great but needed to go away and get some stuff to try and fix it where it was.  Long story short, the gear box is broken.  It needs a new one. Apparently you might as well change the clutch too if this happens…

A few quick phone calls to people who know stuff about cars and the decision was made – take the car. Fix her. Send me the bill and be done with it – I have a show to do!!

So here I am, sat in a Travelodge in Lancaster, wondering if my lovely car has successfully been towed to the nice mechanics garage, wondering how long it will take and of course what the final price will be.    BUT I have to put all of this out of my mind.  After 3 days off, tomorrow we are at The Dukes Lancaster and the audience will be sat in a horseshoe shape.  This means not only do I have to remember my lines, I also have to remember the different places I stand during the version of the show for this theatre layout.  Just when I thought I'd cracked it, it's changing!

I need to focus! Back to Bogus it is. No more real life problems for a while please.  

We did it!!

Wow!

What a day Friday was.  I can't honestly believe we did it!!

I performed the play to a sell out crown of 120 and it went splendidly!  The audience were absolutely wonderful and it was just so nice to feel so much love and support from one room.

I had had a terrible dress rehearsal on Friday afternoon where I kept getting lines wrong and constantly felt terrified because I seemed like I never quite knew what was coming next.  It was an awful experience, I was flying by the seat of my pants and making up lines.  It was happening in places where I have never made mistakes before too which I guess was an indication of it just being nerves but to me it felt like everything was falling apart. I couldn't get myself to focus.

Of course everyone was very kind about it and said that if an audience had come to see the dress they would still have thought it was good etc but I just felt awful.  The moto is "bad dress good show", which I kept trying to remind myself but it was hard to shake off the feeling of dread about the evenings performance.

After the dress rehearsal we had some notes and worked on a few bits where the light and sound needed changing and then we stopped for our dinner break.  I used this time to start running through the lines of the play as quickly as possible whilst walking it through on the set.  Doing this reminded me that I do know the lines and my brain was still working fine!! 

After having some fresh air and going to collect my lovely husband Ben from the station I got back to my dressing room to discover some flowers from Mr Pennington - one of the characters in the play (sounds crazy I know) which instantly brought me close to tears. Running out to say thank you to the director and producer (who I think may have possibly been asked by Mr P to get me the flowers) I was then greeted with another bunch of flowers from my Mum and Brother.  I rang my mum to find out where she was and discovered they had dropped the flowers off themselves and she was in the toilets outside the theatre!  Some serious crying followed as I ran into the toilet to get a special "mum hug".

The crying was great as it let me get out all the emotions of the hideous dress rehearsal and then I finally felt like I was ready to get into the "zone".

With everyone gone I started doing a vocal warm up (which I absolutely HATE) and finished going over the play.  I stood on stage and said the very last line and tried to picture myself getting to the end!  I still couldn't quite believe that we were actually doing it!!

Then suddenly it was nearly time to go.  With a few quick hugs from the Kate (the stage manager), Sophie (producer) and Zoe (director) I was left on my own in the dressing room.  No more human contact until I was on stage.  

With 5 mins to go I put on my "getting ready song" (currently I am Telling You - a duet by Sam Bailey and Nicole Scherzinger in the X factor final) and mimed my little heart out.  I love that song and it makes me forget about everything as I focus on pretending I'm a proper diva singing infront of 80,000 people!!

Then I got my text from Kate, the stage manager to say it was time to go! I said goodbye to my collection of owls and things on my dressing room table, had a stretch, said the first lines of the play a few times and then texted back to say - I'm gone!

Standing backstage I peaked through the curtain (naughty me!!) to see people going to there seats.  It was lovely to see so many friends and family coming to watch the show (although slightly terrifying!)

Finally the lights went down and I hear my cue to go on stage.  

Nothing can describe that 2 seconds in the semi darkness waiting for the lights to go up, knowing that the next time you leave the stage it will be over!!

I got going into the play and found that I was actually enjoying it.  Somehow my nerves had transformed themselves into energy.  I found that I was actually focused on the play (although I am still aware of everything going on in the audience - man creeping in and out across the front row, take note!!) and somehow it was going right!!

A few things went wrong but honestly, I couldn't have asked for a better show.  Kate was bloody great on sound and lighting and the audience were with me for the whole show (apart from the man and woman who went to the toilet...)

When I said the last line of the play and the lights went down I was so happy for it to be over.  I took my bows, then an extra 2 then ran off stage and burst into tears (again!).  Off course there was no one there so I had to wait for the audience to leave and then got some good hugs from the creative team.

It was amazing!  I still can't believe we really did it!  All the hard work from everyone paid off. Just got to keep on doing it for the next 40 something performances! 

I had a great night celebrating and now I am packing up my stuff in London to go back to Manchester ready for Tuesday when we start the tour off at The Dukes, Lancaster.  The theatre is in a horseshoe shape there so I will have to try and remember all the changes we make when it is in that format!!  But that will be fine because I know now I can do it!  

YES!!

Sophie, myself and Zoë post show!! 

We sold out!!

How exciting (and massively terrifying!) is that!!

With one day to go we sold all 100 tickets for our opening night at Rich Mix.  We have actually added an extra row now taking the grand total of seats to 120!!

I've just got home from the theatre after spending the afternoon in tech (technical rehearsal) for the show. This where all the lighting and sound is put in and although it involves lots of stopping and starting its actually is quite nice because for once the focus is not on me!!!

I get to do a bit of acting on the stage whilst various lights are turned up and down, faded in and out and other more technical terms that I have no idea of!

It is an exciting time when you finally get into a theatre with any play.  Normally you finally get to see and use your props (although I only get a set of keys and a 20p piece) try on all your costumes (I only have 1), see the scene changes (there are none) and laugh at your fellow actors (oh...)!

Even though it is only me on stage it is so exciting having the lighting and sound added in. I had to get Zoe, the director to go and stand on the stage for me so I could at least have a little look at what I might look like up there!  Its so hard to imagine what the audience will be seeing.

The best thing that I discovered in this tech is that I can't immediately see the audience when I walk on stage.  I do see them later on in the play but for once I won't walk on and immediately see my mum (which usually happens!!)

We've still got quite a lot of the play to work through tomorrow and then we will have time (hopefully) for a dress rehearsal before our first show!!

In 24 hours and 26 mins I will be on stage. Alone.

Bloody hell.