Saturday, March 17, 2007

There There There

The one and, sadly, only performance of Black Comedy took place last night and was a huge success. Over the last week the cast have steadily upped their game in rehearsals and last night they almost peaked. I say almost because they would really need a short run, 3 to 4 nights, to know how to milk the laughs now they know where the big & small laughs are. But these are naturally talented performers so their adjustment to an altered pacing at key moments was generally smooth. Anyway, they were clearly all thrilled, and rightly so, at what they had delivered. I was sitting in the back row and I think I laughed more than I had at rehearsals, which is saying something considering how often Ferdinand and I found ourselves breaking up. It's a good job the guys delivered though because we had a sort of pre-show item from some of the younger members of our Drama Club doing the item Alex has put together for SYF and they were cooking also, enough to have put their seniors in the shade if the stops hadn't been pulled out. We certainly are possessed of an abundance of talent.

The most satisfying moment: the climactic smashing of a certain 'ming vase' we'd grown so accustomed to. Actually the vase looked really great on stage and oddly expensive. The crash when it went was appropriately awesome. The mess on stage after was deeply fulfilling.

Later I'm heading north to Melaka where Noi is waiting for me and where I shall regale her with further tales of a dramatic nature. I'm in that post-production phase in which just thinking of the fine details of a performance is complacently enjoyable.

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