 Improbable superhero I-Can-See-A-Fish man leaps into action to save the world, accompanied by his trusty sidekicks Fish Boy, Fish Boy, Fish Boy and Fish Boy
Hrrrrrrrrrrr.......Last night got a little 'Bibulous'.
We've not seen Cousin Woody for over a year and had a bit of catching up to do. This involved his excellent Lager, some rum and some Johnny Walker Black Label. I went to bed at some point, but I'm not clear on the details. Woke up to find that the others had left to sleep in the other room. Clearly my snoring is really bad. Strange. It never keeps me awake.
Naturally we woke too early being still on Auckland time, (One and a half hours earlier) so it was into the car and away to Kingston for a swim. The Cat Herder travels with her own snorkel and flippers and will leap into the water to commune with fish at any opportunity.This she did with some success this morning and has the pictures to prove it.The L of M did the 'One toe in the water then wimp out' routine.
Stopped by the Ferny Lane Theatre to take a look around. What a great set up! Everything that 'Gib Dust Hall' was meant to be but never got to be, owing to......Well, never mind. The sound, lights and other gear all look to be in good shape and the acoustics work. Who could ask for more?
That done we went for coffee. Seems they don't believe in getting people over-caffeinated here. We are used to a lot higher octane that we got here, but hey ho. The local Liquor Store was a different matter though. What a fantastic selection! Including the rare and elusive Lagavulin 16 Year Old. More of this later.
To the Theatre's welcoming drinks do in the evening. What a nice crowd of people! Norfolk, Australia and NZ represented about equally in the programme, though the large crowd from Aranui High School certainly brought the Kiwi numbers up.
There seemed to be some amazement at the thought of a carpeted stage. None of us had ever seen such a thing. But there it is, lushly covered in a sort of aqua coloured carpet. Seems we are going to have to be REALLY careful when the stage blood starts flying.
Tuesday 2/1/07
The garden here is wonderful for rehearsals, though it tends to get a bit hot if you leave it too late in the day. We discover to our vexation that we have somehow mislaid the rubber knife that is crucial to the end of Dark Night. Some rapid changes have to be made to the stabbing scene and they seem to work.
We plan a BBQ at Kingston but the wind has got up. Woody takes us instead to a beautiful sheltered spot overlooking Anson Bay. We get a fire lit in the BBQ and cook our lunch. Then, with lunch properly digested, we head back to Emily Bay with our newly hired snorkel gear to have another look at the reef. Wearing a wetsuit top makes all the difference for the L of M and he is soon paddling about the reef exclaiming loudly at the wonderful variety of friendly fish that will come right up and check you out. The Cat Herder found a wonderful pair of fish of a kind that she has never seen before, looking all painted. They don't appear in any of her fish-spotting books so maybe she has found a new species and it will be named after her.
Back to work in the evening with tech rehearsal at the theatre. We have an hour allotted to us and manage to get both plays through a cue to cue with time to spare. Back home for beer and dinner. Then to bed, though in some cases not until very late.
Wednesday 3/10/07
To the reef once more in the early morning. Water even clearer, fish more plentiful. This is the way to wake up! Especially for those feeling the after effects of last night's drinks.
Our dress reheasal is sheduled for 11AM. We run Pack Out and somehow manage to omit two or three pages of dialogue. Terrible! We run it all again and this time it goes right. What a wonderful experience to have real back stage people to take note of our stage set and fetch and carry stuff! We'd forgotten what that felt like.
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