Bentwater Roads: A Sad Goodbye.

A very sad start to today's rehearsals. We had all shifted back to the Theatre for rehearsals and Ivan gathered us around to give Tony the floor for a moment. Tony took a step forward and in a very dignified manner told us that he was having to leave the company through ill-health. Everyone was sad to see Tony go and we felt his absence dearly from the moment he left the rehearsal room.  Ivan has called on another actor, Peter Sowerbutts, to come and replace Tony for the roles of Mal and The Commander. Peter will be joining us on Thursday. With a subdued atmosphere we ventured on with rehearsals in the smaller Theatre space.

We made our way through the first half of the play and then stopped for notes. Mark Knightley and Caitlin Thorburn headed to the Hush House to film one of the Pagan scenes for local television. It will be screened as part of a programme on the arts council cuts in East Anglia on Thursday night. In the evening we all gathered together under Alan's (Assistant Director - and subject of a two page spread in the weekend papers) to rehearse the chorus moments and transitions for the second act of the play... the ram's horn is still sounding somewhere between a stressed ewe and a farting lamb but the singing and chanting from the community chorus is sounding superb.