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:
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!
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