It's been a great week, sometimes hectic, occasionally stressful and finally, exhilarating.
Now it's the last night of in situ: Oedipus Rex and we finish with another sellout. Beforehand, director Richard Spaul is scurrying around to find additional seating, saying "Some people have turned up on the door and I don't want to turn them away... it's not a problem we usually face with in situ:."
Simon and Katrina's wedding has meant some rearrangement to the week-long run. Productions usually open on a Monday night with an intimate performance to an audience in the high teens. Numbers build through the week to capacity crowds at the weekend. Opening on Saturday gave us a greater sense of occasion, which helped the the cast pull out all the stops.
The final night seemed smoother. We tighten things up so it's shorter than the previous last night. Ian amends "...I wouldn't have ended up... c-c-c-c-c-c-copulating with my mother..." in his climactic speech to "f-f-f-f-f-f-f-FUCKING...!" on Richard's suggestion. Though since I wasn't at last night's aftershow party, it came as a complete surprise to me. I kept dwelling on the cue I failed to get, making it appear as if I'd forgotten my line (Jane later admits she saw her family in the front row and thought about the grief her sister would give her if she screwed up!), but few noticed.
I feel more relief than when our previous one-off performances were complete. After the one-term, one-performance piece "Metamorphosis" I felt sad that we'd never do it again. A week starts to seem a long time - particularly with a full-time day job and a young daughter - and getting it right has meant a lot of preparation, but we did ourselves justice with the performances we gave.
Now... the wedding tomorrow followed by a week's holiday in Orford, Suffolk. I think I'll need it.
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