Bentwater Roads: Is There A Doctor In The House?

Did you know that today, July the 6th 2010 is the day that Marty McFly (read the lead character played by Michael J Fox in the 80's smash hit film Back to the Future) arrived in the future after hitting 88mph in his Delorean back in 1985 and sadly we don't even have flying cars or hoverboards to be pleased about!

That was an email I got from Trina today and my god did it make me feel old.

Anyways... can you guess how I started my day - yip, out of bed, into trainers and running gear and a round the park. Back to digs to write up the blog and search for something for my girlfriend's looming birthday on the internet.

Today was a day of forgetfulness of comical proportions but with potentially disastrous consequences. Dan and I headed into the Theatre early after a pit stop at Tesco and the local bun shop but before we left our landlady Rosie hollered for help with her computer, I suddenly realised I still hadn't paid my weeks rent and it was already Tuesday (I normally pay Monday morning) Rosie was fine with it but I was very embarrassed by my faulty memory.

At the Theatre I asked Jill for subsistence money (an extra non- taxable amount of money on top of our wages that goes towards rent for digs while we are away from our homes and a little bit of food.

Jill opened up the safe and very trustingly gave me a large bundle of small envelopes with all the main casts names on them, everyone else's subsistence money and asked if I could hand them to the rest of the cast. I joked ‘there's a lot of money here, I might just take it and run'. I handed Dan his envelope, slipped mine in my back pocket and put the rest in my back pocket, thinking this was a little careless I transferred them to the front pocket of my bag.

Ivan let us know it was time for us to head of in his car for Bentwaters - Dan, Sally and I were recording a small excerpt from the argument in the tower scene (when father Tawney, Dan, tries to stop the Masons from having a topping off ceremony for the tower they've built) for BBC Radio Four on the PM show. So, we were heading out to the Hush House earlier than the others.

Just as we arrived at the Hush House I had the most awful feeling and when I looked down it was confirmed. I had left my bag behind at the Theatre somewhere, with everyone's subsistence inside it - arggghhh!!! This was now the fourth time I'd forgotten my bag behind, which amazes me as I normally am very organized and not forgetful. I quickly called Mark but they were already in the van and on their way to the site. I gave a call to Jill back at the Theatre as well, she said she'd have a look for it (I felt sheepish that I had let down her trust, especially after having been so flippant about the responsibility, with my little joke) before we could find out more...

...The lady from BBC Radio Four had already arrived so we went into the theatre and recorded the scene. I floundered (tripped up and rearranged) my lines on the second take - another feat of useless memory - spoiling what was sounding like a brilliant take for the microphone, on the third attempt I held it together, apologies Dan and Sally.

With that done Ivan had a phone call from the production manager Steve who had been scouring the entire Theatre and hadn't found anything. Panic! Massive Panic!

I went and asked Peter for cigarette - why though I don't understand - it's always seemed like the strangest hypocrisy that we smoke a stimulant (nicotiene) to relax and that we drink a depressant (alcohol) to celebrate. But somehow those cigarettes always look so tempting even after swearing I wouldn't touch another having seen a smokers lungs up close at the Gunther von Hagen's exhibition ‘Body Works' and the plaque beside it explaining that it takes three years of abstinence from smoking to clear your lungs but that any deterioration from the smoke will never repair. (a very scary thought).

I had officially lost everyone's subsistence money - I felt like the scum of the earth, as I'm sure I would soon be thought of by the others when on their arrival I would have to confess that my absent mindedness had lost them their rent money...

...at that moment the van arrived with everyone aboard. They piled out and I got ready for the well deserved abuse that I would have railed upon the poor soul that had lost my subsistence - instead Penny jumped out of the drivers seat laughing at me as she went to the back of the van and took out my bag - oh the relief as she said ‘how many times is that now?'. She didn't even know that the front pocket held everyone's subsistence. Phew!

It didn't stop there though - I don't know whether it's the same for all actors but after a certain number of runs of the show I find it hard to gauge how the show is going but what I do notice is any little or not so little hiccoughs I have. This afternoon we had a School in and we were all curious how they, as a younger audience, would like the show. I'm not sure if they would have understood what I was saying at all, as I floundered one line after another and to make things worse when I had to blow my ram's horn off stage it had regained it's shrill (strangled ewe) quality.

Note to self to have a good practice on the horn before the show if we've had a day's rest between shows.

The show was early to accommodate the students. So we started at 1:30pm and finished at 4pm, unlike the usual matinee time of 3:30pm til 6pm.

I grabbed a copy of the script that was lying nearby and read over and over the words that had tripped me and the phrases I seem to have suddenly forgotten, also the ritual chant that I was now beginning to doubt was the only thing I seem to have got right. Tut, tut...

Though, maybe not even that, as during the ritual, when Caitlin, Sally and I drink from the leather wine flask to cement the blessing I had raised the wine flask to Caitlin's mouth and thinking she was going to take the flask in her hands I let it go, only to notice she wasn't holding it, when I got my hands back on the flask, it was a little too vigorous and Caitlin's face was drenched in fake wine. 

Whoops!

Feeling nervous and still very sheepish James and I herded some cast members together for what ended up being a very exciting and long game of touch Rugby. At times I thought my heart would make its way out of my chest as it seemed so desperate to do each time a made a dash with the ball and tried to get my breath back.

Drenched in sweat, sun-kissed, puffed and with my heart beating in my ears I had to ask for the game to come to a halt and my team definitely hadn't won, which was very embarrassing for a boy from New Zealand. We had a quick lunch then started to play a little quiet cricket. Dan and Silki had taken the VW Campervan out for lunch (it needs to be taken for a spin every now and then to keep the battery from going flat) on their way for a pub lunch the Campervan ran out of Petrol, a somewhat cursed day one might say but once again Penny came to the rescue and brought them some fuel.

The look over the script really helped and I didn't falter or paraphrase at all. But lets not speak to soon, as I did miss one of my Ram's Horn cues and only got the second one because of Richard's vigilance and his snapping figures and nodding head letting me know I had almost missed another. Apart from that small mishap the show felt like it was a brilliant one, to me. Peter and I nailed our Pilot/ Commander scene for the first time; which was really rewarding as we've been trying little things here and there to get it to the right intensity.

Near the end of the show a lady collapsed in the corridor between the seating. Sally and Flick caught her before she hit the concrete and Silki's quick thinking meant Jon (first aid warden and front of house manager) was there in a flash to make sure the lady was not seriously ill, he helped her to her feet and got her outside into the fresh air, feeding her some sweets and water. Jon, Silki and Cherilyn did amazing job of looking after her and keeping the show running at the same time, well done guys, and amazing spotting by Sally and Flick to save her from collapsing straight on to the concrete.

Then everything returned to normality at the end of the night, I heated my post show supper and we headed to the Greyhound for one drink before it was time to hit the hay. I fell asleep, resolved to not make the same mistakes as today again, preferably no more mistakes at all.