Mick, Luke’s dad, drops us at Kingston at ten to eight in the morning amongst hilarious, ‘Ailsa-as-front-seat-mum’ play, where Luke and Christy whine from the back seat and I am OTT cranky mum with them.
Scout. Picture which made it into the Age and now graces Micks coffee table
We’re early. Christy stands on the front step of the arts centre, still trying to sort out the email situation, clicking through messages on her phone and checking things with us.
We get into the space, do a preset, talk logistics and then warm up to run through tricks. Its countdown time and all that bunkbed play I did with Christy yesterday while Luke was plotting lights has paid off. It goes real smoothly and I realise that the only bits I don't know, Christy can cue me for. Her eyes smiling at me under the bunk bed. A couple of tricks we haven’t tried in costume, need a bit of time. Luke does his big change much later in the show now and there are whole sections we haven’t tried in his big suit. I am flashing with anxiousness but it's all ok.
In the changerooms, trying to remember how our makeup works. Aaron giving us five minute calls.
I’ve got a coffee but am so full of nervous energy that drinking it feels like a real bad idea. Christy says she’s nervous, wriggling her hands in front of her tummy and smiling at me. I stand backstage in the dark as the audience comes in. I’m alternately jiggling, stretching and standing real still trying to focus on my breath. The stage is bright and full of our pretty set and I have a flash of being very happy that this is my job. At this point there’s nothing else I can do except the show and there’s a relief in that.
The audience laugh and talk to us in the show. Rosie bear misses the fence the first time round and Luke and I fall out of both of our penultimate tricks but things go surprisingly smoothly. I love the bit where Luke and I fight and he hits me on the head with a newspaper. It makes me very happy. Afterwards, when we sit on the grass and the children come up to say hello there is lots of appreciation. A couple of adults tell us they enjoyed it as much as their children. One little girl, Alice, stands in front of me, in all her pink and bows and big blue eyes, and just looks for a very long time. I ask her if she wants to tell me anything and she shakes her head but just keeps looking. It’s very lovely.
Kate has come, with her boys and we do notes on the grass with regular interruptions from Stan, her youngest, who wants to show us his spooky eye spy book. Then we preset for show two. Marissa is here, who was our contact person when we were rehearsing at Kingston last year. She hugs us in our sweaty costumes and is so smiley and pleased to see us.
This time the two and a half high falls twice and I have a horrible feeling it’s my fault.
two and a half high when it stays up
Still getting an understanding of how the show works, what Natalie is up to in each moment. I feel like I could run the show a lot of times and still discover little seconds of clarity and charater in the choreography. There's something exciting about knowing that this process is ahead.
Afterwards I drive Jordan, our awesome sound operator, to Glenferrie where he’s going to check out the new venue for his year 11 social. We talk fiction writing and online publishing. Yay. Come back to Kingston for the others and take them back to Mick’s.
The email situation has developed but requires a whole lot more time to sort out. I head home to Jono who is writing an essay but very pleased to see me. I have a migraine kicking in. Take two panadol, two iburprofin and lie on the couch under a sleepingbag with radiolab on practically silent next to my head. Virginia Woolf and Elizabeth Taylor had migraines. I like to think I'm in good company. So thankful that I'm someone for whom these drugs work. I unpack, repack and sort out my stuff.
Catching a 7:08 tram towards Moorrabin for two more shows tomorrow. So happy that the set is already bumped in. Its been very fun to be a techy and general support on the Bubblewrap tour and there's something real nice about being on the stage again.
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