And breathe in......

Yep - it's a little bit tight!! The theatre that is - not the costumes!

We have had a very warm welcome up here in Birmingham - even if the weather is doing quite the opposite. We arrived at the theatre yesterday battling through a snow storm, which is not inappropriate for the subject of our show I guess...

I remember many years ago coming to the Alex to watch "Aspects Of Love" on it's UK Tour -probably back in 1993 or something (yikes - makes me feel old!) and that was really before I had any incling of going into the 'business' myself, so I wouldn't even have thought as to whether there was much room in the wings or not, or to be honest cared all that much.

But I do care now! And blimey, there's not much breathing space side of stage with all our set, props and equipment. The local stage crew and all our Stage Management team are doing their best to try and keep everything organised so Babs the Baker can actually get her stall on to the stage, past Scrooge's bed, with 12 kids trying to find their way round the wings in the dark, and the plethora of fruit, parcels and chains hanging around. The glamour of theatre life!!

The Betty Boothers have also had to forego their home for these week as there is no suitable place for us to do our wailing. Oh well... we'll be back again. Just you wait and see. Oh and I should mention Sheri here (as she is the only one in the cast who reads my Blog!) - our very own blue Fairy... you go Sheryl!! ;-)

Off to Bristol next week for our long stint there...

The Screaming Fans...

We're now heading towards the end of our second week of shows here at the Mayflower in Southampton and so far it has been great.

We had quite a heavy week last week - having to tech Act I in 4 hours, and less for Act II !!! And that takes some doing as the show is full of Magic, Illusions, large set pieces on trucks, heavy flying sets and so on. I have to admit that apart from keeping out of the way of the trucks, and not getting knocked on the head by the set flying in, I don't have too much to worry about with the technical side of things, Other members of the cast have a much harder job. The Ghost of Christmas Past (yes Sheri - that's YOU!) is involved with two of the main illusions in the show, so has a much harder time of it... but she is brilliant at it none-the-less. And no, I'm not only saying that because I know she will be reading this!

Shane has done a great job of not only learning what is a massive role (he doesn't really get off stage for 2 hours) but bringing the character to life. There is still a large bit of Shane Richie in there, but he has made Scrooge at turns bitter, and dark, and vulnerable. It's been great to watch him getting into the role and making us laugh too. The audiences have been fantastic as well. I think we heard that the show has broken box office records for the Mayflower, so that's cool. And having a lively, excited audience for every show has been a joy - even if they do audibly groan when we appear at stage door, because the only person they want to see is Shane!!

We will be moving up to Birmingham next week, to what I think is our 'hardest' venue, because the stage and wing space at the Alex is going to make things a little tight. Hey ho - that's half the fun I guess!

I'm really loving being back in a show again - it has been too long I think! It certainly helps that the cast are all great fun, and we just have a really good time doing the show. Especially the booth singing - by god, we're good! ;-)

Apart from the current Digs nightmare that is taking place, everything is going along very nicely. Looking forward to the rest of the shows here (especially as I have M&D in on Thursday and friends in on Saturday - BIG wig action will be happening!) and seeing what the move up to the Midlands brings.