We did it!

And so, we performed our play last night. My stress level was already running high by the time I got to the school, as I’d still been on the Liverpool ring road at 4pm, and we had to be there for 6.15pm.

I arrived to discover that our performance space had been changed due to a double booking of a ballet class (‘why am I not surprised?’) and we were in the process of ‘building’ our set in the assembly hall. So, rather than a nice little studio theatre, with all the lighting rigged for us, we were in a school hall. So much for the scenes that demanded blackout, then! We spent most of the intervening time moving chairs and tables around. It was probably one of the more bizarre performance spaces I’ve played in.

I was pleased to see that we had a full cast, and no one had lost their nerve at the last moment, and at least all the furniture moving meant that there was little time to feel nervous.

Are we gathered at the back of the hall for our entrance, it filled up (must have been the attraction of the belly dancers, who were on after us), so we probably had an audience of around 70.

It actually went remarkably well. No one forgot their lines, everyone remembered their moves, and if there were a few unintentional pauses (and a point where one of the sound cues failed so two scenes swapped places) then I don’t think the audience noticed. It only lasted about 20 minutes in total, so, as I told people, really not worth travelling for. As soon as we came off stage we hit the bar – which set a really good example, as the piece was about drinking!

Afterwards, in the tradition of all actors, we headed for the pub to talk about it, and ended up in gales of laughter about all the things that had gone wrong. Yes, however minor the production, acting still gives me that high, and I know why I do it.