Week the Nineteenth: Something's Up.

Something odd happened here last week. The river dropped, the sky cleared, my laundry dried and everyone cheered up a lot. Yes indeed, the sun actually shone for several days, enabling the good ship TbtL and all who sail in her to jolly off to the seaside! We also discovered some of the most amazing wild swimming spots deep in the valleys of the Lakes.
 The shows are starting to tick along, with only the occasional hiccup here and there; possibly a senior moment causes a line to come out a little oddly; perhaps a busier than usual social life leads an actor's mind astray mid-scene, causing a slight deviation from the script. From the outside of course, nothing seems awry, as the mind snaps back to attention and steers the slightly tired actor's brain back on to course. What always keeps live theatre alive for the true thespian is obviously the audience. Here in Keswick we get our fair share of lively folk coming to see our shows and their comments and reactions keep us well and truly on our toes and not thinking about how we'll spend our day off tomorrow. The majority are funny and delightful to share in the pub afterwards. For example in Bedroom Farce, the reappearance of my character Susannah at a crucially awful moment often incites cries of, "Oh crikey! She's back!" and "Uh-oh! Here's trouble!" as well as some audience members even finishing an actors' lines for them, which when it's a juicy punchline, can seem really harsh! I sense a strong need for a good old fashioned Pantomime here one Christmas.. In Dry Rot, a lovely sight gag was swiped from under an actor's feet as an audience member loudly told him what he was going to do next.. These things help keep us humble you know!  You've got to love or at least accept this sort of thing is going to happen if you're in live performance. In the studio, where the audience sit opposite each other and where the lighting illuminates the two front rows, it can be quite challenging to keep on going when very vocal people come to a show; people for whom day to day reality has become a challenge. Who are we to question the motives of someone who wants to bring a family member to a show with for example,  advanced Alzheimer's disease? The disturbance sometimes caused by someone with such a distressing condition getting loudly and visibly upset can be very pronounced, causing the audience around to get restless and actors to lose their way.. We still have to carry on and trust that somebody 'outside' of the performers is keeping an eye on proceedings.  That can seem very callous, but that is how it is in the world of Show. The other things that can keep us on our toes in both spaces can also be exterior noise and that again is where we have to trust that the audience who can also hear the  superfluous noise don't mind it.  Little London fringe venues are typical in this case, where every night of the week audiences are paying to watch, for example a restoration drama whilst a loud pub quiz is conducted in the rooms below and police sirens are heard all around. These are times when the 'Fourth Wall' seems a flimsy little tissue indeed! I've done more than my fair share of jobs where the sound of people using the toilets in the pub below can be very clearly heard throughout the performance. Very clearly. I've said it before, it's a glamorous old game this business.
We have our matinee this week of Bedroom Farce and the weeks ahead bring visits from family and friends making the most of the August break. Needless to say, the weather is heading back to its default setting and it's time once more to put the summer frocks and sun cream away and on with the waterproofs. Bah humbug. An ideal time to get down to some serious reading of the books long neglected and even a read of the novel selected for next season's TbtL proposed world premiere..