First Night
A bit of a limbo during the day. I slept this afternoon for an hour, and otherwise pottered about not doing too much of anything, other than wasting time humble bragging on Facebook, in an attempt to get more people through the door tonight.
Lovely Lorraine arrived home early and she, James and I cabbed down to The Marly for six. Dylan, Beth and Kitty already there. Lurked in the green room a bit, and then as soon as we could get into the theatre, boshed in and set up rapidly. Bloody great white flats left in the room, and we had to dissemble them with the help of Marly folks before the seats could be done. A bit of nervous hanging around beforehand. Went to sit in the bar, nursing a half-pint. I met Ptolemy who Beth has taught, and had brought a posse of his drama A level class with him, having seen A Glass of Nothing earlier in the year. He congratulated me on the writing, and Beth says he can recite bits of the play. A very promising 16 year old I think, who clearly has marvellous taste. Then Anton and Mari arrived to see the show. Lovely to see Mari again, and we hung about a bit before we kicked off.
A bit of a delay in starting, with Beth waiting in the tiny backstage area. Then finally we got going. Lots of younger people in the audience, and as soon as We Three Kings got going they were laughing and engaged the whole way through. Beth held it all together as the Mary figure, Marybeth, and the three kings did brilliantly. I wrote Melchior for Dylan and he just shone in it. That boy is like sunshine on stage. Kitty did the cross dressing Drag King Caspar very well, and the fact that Beth is romantically drawn to Caspar went very well indeed. James was superb as Balthazara. I thought he might be put off by the laughter, but he kept it going really well, swirling melodramatically about the place. A Glass of Nothing ran smoothly Beth's transformation into the world's most beautiful woman brilliantly acted. Kitty and Beth confident enough to ad lib around a falling over chair. Dylan word perfect and brilliant. Kitty brilliant too, always finding ways to add more, my tiny but menacing part as the prompter even got a laugh. But Beth, who is onstage for all but a few minutes in A Glass of Nothing was a real powerhouse driving both through, and acting fabulously. She was very nervous tonight, but carried it off like a star and I felt really proud of her.
Immensely pleased to see that We Three Kings worked so well in front of a live audience. On my favourite Kermode and Mayo podcast they talk about films passing the six laugh test, i.e. if during the whole film there are six laughs. We'd done that inside the first three minutes of We Three Kings.
What was fascinating was that after the applause at the end of the evening, the audience simply didn't want to leave, but hang about talking. I had to eventually drag the actors out from backstage otherwise we wouldn't have got out. Anton and Marie who were sitting next to Lorraine and I said they really enjoyed it. Ptolemy, who was sitting behind me, said he liked We Three Kings too.
Felt really proud of everyone, and -- a rare moment this -- proud of myself too. A few cheeky and highly relieved beers downstairs in the bar of the Marly with Lorraine and Beth, James, Kitty and her friend Nick, Anton and Mari. Then cabbed home with Lorraine and Beth and James. Ate toast. James drove home, and Lorraine went to bed. And over the last bits of toast Beth said, We did it didn't we? And we bloody had too. Went to bed, crawling in beside a fast asleep Lorraine. And fell asleep almost at once, looking forward to tomorrow.
So preoccupied, I didn't take a single snap. D'oh!
Lovely Lorraine arrived home early and she, James and I cabbed down to The Marly for six. Dylan, Beth and Kitty already there. Lurked in the green room a bit, and then as soon as we could get into the theatre, boshed in and set up rapidly. Bloody great white flats left in the room, and we had to dissemble them with the help of Marly folks before the seats could be done. A bit of nervous hanging around beforehand. Went to sit in the bar, nursing a half-pint. I met Ptolemy who Beth has taught, and had brought a posse of his drama A level class with him, having seen A Glass of Nothing earlier in the year. He congratulated me on the writing, and Beth says he can recite bits of the play. A very promising 16 year old I think, who clearly has marvellous taste. Then Anton and Mari arrived to see the show. Lovely to see Mari again, and we hung about a bit before we kicked off.
A bit of a delay in starting, with Beth waiting in the tiny backstage area. Then finally we got going. Lots of younger people in the audience, and as soon as We Three Kings got going they were laughing and engaged the whole way through. Beth held it all together as the Mary figure, Marybeth, and the three kings did brilliantly. I wrote Melchior for Dylan and he just shone in it. That boy is like sunshine on stage. Kitty did the cross dressing Drag King Caspar very well, and the fact that Beth is romantically drawn to Caspar went very well indeed. James was superb as Balthazara. I thought he might be put off by the laughter, but he kept it going really well, swirling melodramatically about the place. A Glass of Nothing ran smoothly Beth's transformation into the world's most beautiful woman brilliantly acted. Kitty and Beth confident enough to ad lib around a falling over chair. Dylan word perfect and brilliant. Kitty brilliant too, always finding ways to add more, my tiny but menacing part as the prompter even got a laugh. But Beth, who is onstage for all but a few minutes in A Glass of Nothing was a real powerhouse driving both through, and acting fabulously. She was very nervous tonight, but carried it off like a star and I felt really proud of her.
Immensely pleased to see that We Three Kings worked so well in front of a live audience. On my favourite Kermode and Mayo podcast they talk about films passing the six laugh test, i.e. if during the whole film there are six laughs. We'd done that inside the first three minutes of We Three Kings.
What was fascinating was that after the applause at the end of the evening, the audience simply didn't want to leave, but hang about talking. I had to eventually drag the actors out from backstage otherwise we wouldn't have got out. Anton and Marie who were sitting next to Lorraine and I said they really enjoyed it. Ptolemy, who was sitting behind me, said he liked We Three Kings too.
Felt really proud of everyone, and -- a rare moment this -- proud of myself too. A few cheeky and highly relieved beers downstairs in the bar of the Marly with Lorraine and Beth, James, Kitty and her friend Nick, Anton and Mari. Then cabbed home with Lorraine and Beth and James. Ate toast. James drove home, and Lorraine went to bed. And over the last bits of toast Beth said, We did it didn't we? And we bloody had too. Went to bed, crawling in beside a fast asleep Lorraine. And fell asleep almost at once, looking forward to tomorrow.
So preoccupied, I didn't take a single snap. D'oh!
Comments