being in a play can be hard work

things are moving forward with our musical now

we are moving off scripts n into memory

ive learnt about 2 thirds of it now

but sometimes i reach for a line n come up empty handed

its quite a complicated play as far as things are all happ’nin’ at once

everybody on stage at once all doing different things

you gotta remember yer lines

walk along with another actor talking

without him obscuring you or you obscuring him

you gotta arrive in the right time at the right place

co ordinate yer motions so on a certain word a certain something occurs

theres people popping up all over the place a lot of the time

the directors got it all “blocked”

that means everyone has to know where to be n when

its not like being in a rocknroll band

then ya can just do whatever ya like at any old time

wanna do the splits or a mick jagger waddle?

wanna stand still wanna jump up n down?

sure…go for it…no ones gonna mind

but in a musical play you gotta remember a lot of stuff

you gotta know other peoples lines too because theyre cues

dont get in peoples way

dont turn yer back on the audience

be authentic be funny be sad be crazy be in tune

wow its a multi-disciplined doo dah and it takes a lotta concentration

you cant drift off for a minute or you could wreak havoc on yer play

drying up on a line is my greatest fear

an actor gives ya yer cue and you go to say yer line n its gone from yer mind

you might have rehearsed it a 100 times but it still is liable to get forgotten

you gotta hammer the lines into yer head

you feel terrible letting the side down

its like a footy team you all gotta be on the ball all the time

one false move n the whole thing can go outta control

well i’m not really an experienced actor so  this is all still somewhat new for me

next time you go see a play n the actors are all moving round seemingly at random

watch closely…its probably all tightly choreographed

its all been rehearsed n rehearsed until its tight

still the cast is excellent

john paul young is brilliant as the brutal drunkard akbar

cora IS gypsy fire with all her sorrow n joy

luke is the normal son in a van park full of weirdos, a deceptively simple gig

for someone only seventeen hes playing his part perfectly

catriona is the snobby english tourist the object of curlys desire

shes acting up a storm too

king curly is our band of musicians and theyre just right

the music is very catchy n the lyrics are pithy

great songs some of which could almost be hits

the plot n dialogue are engaging n our director john is resourceful n encouraging

i guess that leaves me n i’m doing my best as the pompous old hippy nebauchenezzar

hes a bit cosmic hes a bit wordy hes a bit of a heroic goose

sound familiar

i mean this part was made for me

now i gotta do it justice

yikes i should be learning my lines instead of typing this

nevermind i will do that right now

hope you can come to see this one in sept at the seymour centre

i sing i dance and i make some grandiose pronouncements

whatmore do ya want?

huh?