Two in one week- what a treat!

Hello! It’s the Missus here! Before I tell you how the show went last night, I want to take a moment to tell you about what I call “London Fridays.” Every Friday morning, without fail, I encounter hundreds of people rolling suitcases behind them or lugging large duffel bags on the tube. It’s sort of like an army of weekend warriors! Yes, I do realize that people all over the world go away on the weekends, but this is a phenomenon. They bring their suitcases, duffel bags, backpacks to work and leave for their weekend holidays from there. It almost feels like the city is being evacuated every Friday – hundreds of people flocking toward the nearest exit. I imagine it must be difficult, though. I mean it’s hard enough to focus on Friday, especially when you are going out of town for the weekend. Why would you want to torture yourself by staring at your suitcase all day? Can you imagine? Just staring at it- knowing that the cute swimsuit you bought for the beach is in there waiting to be worn or the tickets to the concert are calling your name- but you are stuck creating spreadsheets and making copies! I am told that while this is a year-round phenomenon, the number of suitcases does increase exponentially with nicer weather. By the way- when does that nicer weather start? And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the phenomenon of London Fridays. On with the show…

I am happy to report that the show was a success. The performances were fantastic (especially John’s) and the audience loved it. There was an adjudication at the end, about which I was quite nervous. It was an older man who sat in the FRONT ROW and wrote throughout the three shows. He also made a lot of disgruntled noises during the first show, which did not help my nerves! He tore the first play apart. I agreed with everything he said, but it was brutally honest and I thought he could have found a more constructive way of saying that the show sucked. Then-in my opinion- he was a little too kind to the second show. It was a full-length that they cut for the purpose of the festival and we all know how well that usually turns out! I would be interested to see the full-length, but the one act didn’t do much for me. He thought it was good, though. Then- it was our turn….HE LOVED IT! He said the dialogue was “snap-crackle-pop!” He said it was “nicely stylized” and the characters were “clear.” He commented on everything we had worked on- it was a GREAT FEELING! The only negative thing he had to say is that in general he doesn’t like the American Male Voice and that John might have slowed down a bit to help those who don’t understand the “jargon.” Well, unfortunately, that was a choice I made as part of the style that he had complemented earlier and I had never thought of the fact that people might not understand the accent. It definitely gave me something to think about. Afterwards, I introduced myself and thanked him for his comments and he gave me another note, which was right on. He was very complimentary and I was very pleased.

BUT---I have to vent to you because you will understand. The guys who run the festival were extremely friendly and laid-back- really nice guys. At tech, I was a little put-off by their relaxed nature since I’m used to the very strict regime of the Sam French Festival and Fringe and because I’m a bit OCD about organization and efficiency. I told myself to embrace it and be thankful for the change, but deep inside I was worried- worried that "relaxed" really meant "not on the ball." Well, guess what- they messed up! For those of you who don’t know the play, Below 14th is a very easy show techwise. There is: lights up, lights down and three sound cues. Cake- Well, they brought in the opening sound cue before John was set, snapped at my actress to enter BEFORE they brought up the lights and brought in a sound cue, which was the cue for a line, late! Needless to say, I was very unhappy with the tech, but the cast handled it all beautifully and no one was the wiser. So, all-in-all it was a great night. The end.