First Preview...

You have to be brave to be an actor.

Timberlake Wertenbaker

Yesterday was our first performance! It was also the day of our dress rehearsal and the completion of our technical rehearsal.

We arrived at the theatre early to finish the tech-ing the show, from the transition between the world of the children to the world of their parents. As I said before, this transition is busy with set, lighting, sound and costume changes and a flying sequence. It is therefore very technical and took a while.

We were about to tech the final moments of the show, literally the last song, when the fire alarm sounded and the building was evacuated! So, there we stood outside the theatre for 45 minutes in the freezing cold. High spirited but well behind time, we were nonetheless beginning to think we'd never get to the end of the tech, or that we'd end up dress rehearsing in front of an audience that evening.

Evacuees

Eventually, we returned to the theatre, swiftly completed the technical rehearsal and prepared to squeeze in a dress rehearsal.

We were confronted with a choice. Because we were behind time, both ourselves and the crew were due a break before the evening show, which would preclude us from dress rehearsing the entire show. Matthew offered us the option of dress rehearsing the majority of the show (thereby maintaining the length of our break), but the company instantly agreed to shorten the break, knowing that a full dress rehearsal was absolutely essential for us to feel prepared.

So we dress-rehearsed the play in full in front of an audience of theatre staff, including the artistic director, Andrew Smaje and the writer, Tim Firth. The dress went very well, with few major hiccups. Everyone was relieved to discover that they could, more or less, get from one end of the show to the other, remembering all of the essential technical stuff, much of which has an impact on the other actors.

Tim Firth was very pleased and said that he felt we'd achieved a pace that former companies had taken a number of performances to reach, and also that the thrust staging gave an added sense of this being a classroom around which the children run. We were very encouraged.

Being in a theatre company and performing a play is a microcosm of life. A birth happens on the first day of rehearsals and a death on the night of the final show (though hopefully memories remain). With this in mind, the first preview is rather like having a baby: It's tremendously exciting, and terrifying at the same time.

Frazer summed it up when, pacing around the dressing room immediately beforehand, he asked "Why do we do this? It's at moments like this you wonder why, don't you? And, at the same time, you totally know why you do it and would have it no other way! I'm feel totally alive!"

In the event, the night was a huge success!

It being a preview, the audience (a full house) had paid a reduced ticket price and arrived understanding that they were about to see a show thoroughly rehearsed, but as yet untested with an audience. The electric atmosphere that goes hand in hand with this, was undoubtedly the appeal for many of those who choose to come.

They clearly loved the show. They were roaring with laughter, particularly during the second half, when the pay-offs to numerous story strands come rolling in.

Having read the play for the first time, way back, before rehearsals had even begun, there are so many moments in the show at which we'd ourselves had never laughed. It was absolutely thrilling to hear an audience respond to these moments.

In the bar after the show, we were victorious and elated, like the proud parents of a newly born baby.