Two left

On Thursday we had our penultimate rehearsal, oh my goodness, just two left - well, one now! 

There's still so much to do, the Hobbit and I will be dedicating most of this weekend (aside from a couple of dinners out and a yoga class) to the show and everything that goes along with it.  As you know I made a list, I'm going to have made several more lists by the end of the weekend I'm sure.

Tickets are selling, with more sold every time the box office is checked, which is great,but we are very Saturday night heavy - in fact Saturday night is completely sold out!  I'm so pleased but just now need a few more tickets to be sold on the other nights, I'm sure that it'll come, we are still over a week out so there's still plenty of time, isn't there?

Anyway, back to rehearsal on Thursday.  Have I said that I love my cast?  They take direction extremely well, know their lines, know their blocking and are completely a team.  I'm almost sad that we don't rehearse twice a week like plays usually do, not that Team Ghost actually need the extra rehearsals!  It was Kelley's birthday on Wednesday and I had hoped to make her a cake but I just didn't have time during the week, I will try to squeeze that in on Sunday and surprise her on Monday, unless she reads this blog and then it wont be a surprise will it?

We had two good run throughs with light and music.  I love the music I have chosen for the show, it really sets the atmosphere and who doesn't love a polka, right?  We were going to do another run through but I decided to let the cast go early, they have worked so hard over the last couple of months and I know they're ready, it's just about tightening up in a few places, I really can't wait to see the finished product.

We are rehearsing on Monday next week - our last one - and I want to definitely get three run throughs in.  I have asked the cast to come pretty much in the costumes that they will wear for the show and I want to try to get props in as much as possible so that they have a chance to get used to them before we go into show week.  Again, another job for the weekend.  Right, I have to go do box office stuff now with the Hobbit and I'll blog again after Monday anyway.  Oh, have you booked your tickets yet?????

Song of the day - Michael Gray - The weekend

Lists of lists

Two weeks today is opening night.  Eeeek!

I made a list yesterday of the things I still need to do, there is still quite a bit on that list, looks like this weekend will be given over to the show, aside from dinner with friends and an anniversary dinner with the Hobbit.

Things still to do include:
Costumes.  I have kind of decided in my head how I want the cast to look, I just need to articulate it and tell the cast what they need.  Might help eh?

Props.  I think we have pretty much most of the stuff we need, I need to go through the list again.  I want to use as many props as possible for the next couple of rehearsals so the cast get used to them and should they need to get rid of any from the stage during the performance, we can factor that in.

Budget.  Need to finalise the spending a bit with DZ and the Hobbit, flyers and make up costs etc need to be accounted for with the Hobbit.

Programmes.  Both DZ and I need to work on our introduction piece for the programme and the cast need to send their biogs so that we can work on the programme over the weekend.

Health and Safety stuff.  The bit I hate most, the Hobbit hasn't done it before so I said that I would pick this up for him, I'm soooo nice, I know.

Busy couple of weeks ahead now, plus we really need the cast to get selling tickets or it won't matter how good the costumes are...

Song of the day - Madonna - Dress you up

A series of unfortunate events, well two actually...

Firstly, I have to apologise for the lack of blog last week.  I was in Germany on business all week so had to entrust the rehearsal to the Hobbit.  Feedback from him and Jenna (when she, very kindly, picked me up from the airport) was very good, which made me super excited about the rehearsal this week.

We had a bit of a disastrous journey. Firstly, the Hobbits train was 15 minutes late getting into the station, so we knew we would be late as we had to pick up Joshua on the way through. We let everyone know that we would have a slightly later start and drove on to get Joshua.  We were about 10 minutes from our rendezvous point when, to our surprise, we came across a sign in the road "POLICE ROAD CLOSED".  Urgh!  Really?  Things were totally conspiring against us!

We eventually made it to the hall and the cast were waiting for us, which was great, Sophie had already informed us that she would be later coming but I hoped that she would make it to us just as her bit started.  We ran through from the top (where else?) with lights, or lack of them in some instances.  It was great, the hall is VERY dark without the lights on so I think we should be good for the darkness I'm looking for, which has nothing to do with Justin Hawkins.

Unfortunately, Sophie arrived about 3 minutes too late and we had already stopped when we got to her arrival.  She then asked us when we were going to work with the lights!  She got a chorus of "now"!

Two other excellent run throughs after this, with my lighting expert sitting in to understand what effects I'm looking for and so he could get a feel for the run of the show.  I didn't ask what he thought of it actually, I shall ask him next time I see him.  My wonderful cast are pretty much there, just a few  bits to tighten up and we should be good to go.  I know that they are going to make me so very proud of them.

In other news, our sister show won "Best Comedy" at the Maidenhead Drama Festival on Saturday, so a great big congratulations to them!  No pressure then on my show to deliver along side an award winning show...

Now the only thing to worry about is ticket sales.  With just two weeks left, we need a hell of a pick up to hit our target audience.  Hopefully the 10 miles that I walked on Saturday and the same of Director Zombie and Victoria delivering over 1250 flyers will help.

Song of the day - Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Come up and see me (make me smile)

On Location

Yesterday was trailer day and no, I'm not talking about an American caravan, I'm talking about our promotional trailer for The Lodge in the Woods.  How exciting is that?!?

I must say, that I was very excited in the lead up to yesterday, never having done anything like this before, for any show I'd been a part of, let alone my play what I wrote (have I mentioned that before?)!

I had pulled together a "storyboard" (or in other words, six boxes with stick drawings in) so that Director Zombie would be able to follow my train of thought, just in case it became derailed.  Handily, near where the Hobbit and I live there is great foresty/woody land, belonging to Her Maj actually, which I thought would be ideal as the location for the trailer, turns out it was absolutely spot on!

We had arranged that Jenna, Kelley and Joshua would meet the Hobbit and I at our house to have a quick briefing of the "storyboard" so that everyone knew what they would be doing and what the overall effect would be when finished (we hoped).  Director Zombie was meeting us "on location" and I had a brief spell of panic as to how we would find each other when we got there as it is quite a big place and very busy with cyclists on a dry Sunday morning.  It was like an explosion in a Lycra factory! 

Luckily on the way in, Joshua had seen a dodgy guy hanging around looking suspicious as we drove in, Director Zombie had been found!  We got straight into it and worked steadily through the different scenes that I had planned.  There were a couple of suggestions from the cast and crew as we went along which we adapted into the filming and having started at 10.30am (ish)  we were done by just after 12pm!  Well done us!

Director Zombie went off to film his trailer for Z is for Zombie with his cast and the rest of us went back to Jenna's for a cuppa, some of us staying for Sunday lunch too cooked by Mr Jenna, which was yummy!

And now the waiting game is going on, Director Zombie has just messaged me to tel me that my trailer is being rendered and then will be uploaded to youtube.  I am currently in the BA Lounge at Terminal 5 waiting to get on a plane to Berlin, I am so hoping that it will be ready for me to view before I get on the plane!!!!  I cannot wait to see it and to share it!!

Ticket sales for the Saturday night are going well, we need to get the rest of the nights started as well, although having said that, we are over 25% sold for the Saturday night with 4 weeks to go, so I shouldn't start panicking about sales just yet, although I am a little bit inside...

The Lodge in the Woods Trailer
Cast and Crew

Didnt we just do this?

Okay, sorry everyone. I know I have been lapse in my blogging this week but I have extenuating circumstances and they are... Er...

Anyway, we had to swap our rehearsal this week from Thursday to Monday so we had a really short time between last rehearsal and this one.  However, this didn't stop my wonderful cast from really knuckling down and learning their lines.  All of the cast went without their scripts even though my scripts down day wasn't until Thursday so considering this, I was extremely pleased with them, they just continue to make me proud.  We managed two run throughs including stop starts for dropped lines, not that many really, and notes that I wanted to make, again only a few.

In other news, the box office is now open and we have had last very nice pick up so far and when I say very nice, I mean that we have sold just under 25% of the tickets available for Saturday nights performance!  Already!  Just need to make sure that we keep up the momentum and get sales.  It's always the most worrying part of any show, ticket sales.  The majority of the audiences come as a result of knowing people in the cast, so it's a lot of pressure on the cast to get their friends, families, colleagues and strangers in the streets to come and see a show.  I do have to say that I have had pretty positive feedback from the people I have spoken to as £12 for two plays and supper is an absolute bargain, right?

Unfortunately, I am missing next weeks rehearsal as I have to go to Germany for work.  I am leaving the Hobbit in charge so I hope that the cast all give him the same commitment as they do for me.  I'm sure they will.

Sunday, we have our media day, filming for our trailers and I am very excited!  And the weather forecast says that there's only 20% chance of rain on Sunday, it would be great if it could be dry.  I have story boarded what I want to film and Director Zombie will be in charge of the filming, he was talking about needing someone to work the clapper boards between takes - it'll be just like the real movies!!!  I will be linking to the trailer on my next blog, now you can't wait either can you?

Song of the day - Alien Ant Farm - Movies

Missing, believed on a bus

For some reason that had nothing to do with the weather, traffic was awful getting to Colnbrook last night.  So awful that it took Kelley and hour and a half to get from Hayes to Colnbrook (which really isn't far) and Joshua sat on a bus for nearly two hours (not because he wanted to, he doesn't have a bus thing going on or anything) and didn't make it at all.  URGH!

We were without Sophie which was pre-planned (although I totally forgot about it until Caroline called her and she reminded us) so, because of the traffic challenges and the fact I had to eat my dinner having come straight from work, we got going a little later than usual.

Luckily I had a spare man that could stand in for Joshua, well, actually I had two, so they took it in turns.  It does always make it more difficult when you have a stand in because they don't know the blocking so you spend some time moving them around to where they are supposed to be.  My stand-ins did a pretty good job but did make me laugh when one of them just started wandering around!

Three lovely run-throughs with my fabulous cast, all of them trying to drop their scripts with, on the whole, pretty good results.  It makes it so much easier to actually direct the cast when you don't have them clutching scripts, facial expressions come, movements are easier and actors actually act.  I am very pleased with how well they are all doing, a bit more study and they'll be there.

I added in the music in the beginning, middle and end bits that will have music (see, can't give too much away) so that the cast could get a feel for them and I'm pretty pleased actually.  I think the music works and sets the atmosphere as I want it.  I am particularly pleased with the end as I like the way the music starts and then builds.  Who would have thought a good drum and bass number would work here (kidding!!!).

Quick turn around this week as our next rehearsal has been swapped with the zombies so we are going again on Monday, I'm quite pleased with that really as I am in Germany the week after so will miss the rehearsal completely and will have to leave the Hobbit in charge.  Not sure he'll be as good a task-master as me, but needs must when the devil drives...

Song of the day - The Cars - Drive

Evicted...

Floods, floods, floods...  It's what's on every news bulletin and, if you live in our neck of the woods, on a load of Facebook feeds either because people are under water, being evacuated or spending their time filling sand bags, sometimes with royalty!

Well, it came to hit home this week for the Woods cast as on Tuesday on my way home from the office, I get a phone call from the Chairman explaining to me that the Village Hall, where we rehearse, had been designated as a "Evacuation Centre" for those affected by the floods and so we would not be able to use the hall on Thursday night.  We would still have one of the smaller rooms, but there was the distinct possibility that there would be a whole load of people there so I wasn't too sure about keeping the rehearsals there.

Now I could have cancelled the rehearsals but, because I had to cancel last weeks and we are only rehearsing once a week, I didn't think we should take another week off.  It had also been 3 weeks since the Hobbit had rehearsed with us and it was the first opportunity I'd had for everyone to be together, so I kept the smaller room, but it wouldn't be easy.  Although we started our rehearsals in the smaller rooms, we have definitely outgrown them now!  Luckily I have some contacts within the hotel industry and called in a favour.  Our rehearsal was off to a new space, the Marriott Hotel Heathrow (for which I thank them very much).

Jenna was working late so we started without her and had a good run through with Sophie standing in until her part and then Caroline standing in after that.  Everyone remembered their blocking (yay!) and Joshua had even gone a long way to learning his lines (very pleased with that indeed!).  We worked on some delivery of lines, but on the whole, the cast are just doing what I knew they would do when I cast them - they're being excellent.

After Jenna arrived, we started again from the beginning and managed to get two more full run-throughs in, which was brilliant.  There is some great chemistry between the cast and the emotions are really coming through.  I think they will all be in tears at the end, maybe even me.  All in all, they are making me very, very proud.

Just some behind-the-scenes things to get sorted now, then we can really get on the promotional trail.  I need to work out my story board for my trailer, we need to get posters and flyers designed and printed and then we can really get selling.

Song of the Day - Fightstar - Floods (well, what else?)