A Welcome Break!
Since Ilford the tour has been hectic but brilliant! Now I am home in Wokingham, enjoying a few days of hot baths, massages and icing my swollen feet before its back to the grindstone on Wednesday! It is definately a welcome break!
Well, we made it through the ten day tour, all in one piece except for poor Katherine. I had such a fantastic time! It was tough and it was tiring, but mainly it was great fun and I feel so lucky to have been able to perform every night to enthusiastic audiences - I had such withdrawal symptoms when it came to going back to ordinary rehearsals at school.
Our first stop was Liverpool, a mere six hour bus journey from London - thankfully our bus is comfortable. The hotel was rather posh - 'The Royal' and the theatre the next day was an even nicer suprise - a really big stage and excellent wing space, which we were not so lucky to have in Colwyn Bay the following evening.The show in Liverpool was great, and I had some friends in the audience which always makes it more exciting. The journey to Colwyn Bay took hours, but I am blessed with the ability to sleep anywhere in any position so I didn't mind too much! We are getting much better at the ''get-in' now. I'm almost starting to feel like a proper sound technition now, due to Russ and Rob's excellent guidance - I think it's about time I got myself a multi-tool to hang on my belt so I really look the part! Colwyn Bay was not only tiny, but also raked so my upstage pirouettes in St Pauls Suite were a bit of a nightmare, but as they say it's all part of the training and experience.
Awoke at the unearthly hour of 4.45 the next day, but against all odds of tiredness, the show in Abergavenny was my best of the ten days. I was really pleased with how Corsaire went in particular and the Welsh audience were so appreciative - clapping and whooping and shouting Bravo! (I think it was my Uncle Wynford). It really gave everyone a lift.
The travel day gave everyone a chance to recover and rest, and Kendal is the cutest place ever. We stayed in a hostel, with all the girls in one room together which was really fun. Kendal was a studio theatre and bigger than we expected, and being there for two nights meant we could really get used to the space, so it was great. First night was good, second night disaster struck (how melodramatic!) At 4pm, as I'm sure you have read in her diary, Katherine sprained her ankle too badly to continue, and we were thrown into chaos trying to cover her parts. For Coppelia it was fairly straight forward, but for Birds, Jazz and St Paul's we had Eriko, Kozue and myself in parts we had never done before and we had to change the order of the show. It was really stressful, especially as the rythyms and directions in St Pauls are really complicated and were opposite to the place that I knew. Right until the show started I felt unsure, but somehow once I got going it was fine. However much we tried though, it definitely put a dampner on the show that Katherine could not be there with us and none of us could enjoy it.
Last but not least we went to Hexham. A lovely modern theatre and a full audience. The show was not the best, which I was disappointed about, as I had wanted to end on a high note. However, I think that it is something I will just have to get used to, because there will always be little things in every show that you wish you could go back and fix. I guess that if you were always happy with your performance you would not be pushing to get better and you would not improve. If you want every performance to be better than your last one, I suppose you have to put up with being disappointed sometimes! Had a hilarious last night in Hexham, including getting locked out of our hotel until Darren kindly scaled a 6 foot wall, then on Tuesday had the horrendously long journey home. I cannot wait to be off on tour again - the busy lifestyle really suits me and I enjoyed it so much.
Chelmsford (now there's a nice theatre) was another good show. I danced Giselle pas de deux which I enjoyed and my parents were there to watch again. I think that they are trying to win a prize for the biggest fans of the tour, although they are being strongly contested by Leonne's family who are for the moment in the lead. I'll keep you updated! Anyway, shall be off for now, I'll write again soon. xxx
Posted by Julia Davies at April 14, 2006 05:45 PM
