The opening night of in situ:'s Oedipus Rex saw an extremely satisfying sold out show in aid of the Cambridge Preservation Society.
The full house raised the temperature in The Leper Chapel, something we could've used in the months of rehearsals through the winter. We've spent four terms meeting weekly to improvise scenes, practice choruses and develop the text with writer and director Richard Spaul. Rehearsals indicated it was coming together well, thanks in no small part to the effort put in over the previous two weeks.
My favourite memory of the day was not from the performance, but the final rehearsal in the afternoon. It was approaching 4:30pm, we'd been working for a couple of hours and were putting the final touches to the last scene. Most of the cast were slow-walking out of the chapel door and up the path. Ian - the final Oedipus - reached the doorway, thrashing about, ranting and swearing, his face wrapped in a bloodied bandage.
We're quite used to the bemused looks of cyclists and pedestrians as we filter, zombie-like towards the gate, but it's still amusing to see the reactions and wonder what people are thinking. Suddenly, a double decker bus appeared, packed upstairs and downstairs with returning afternoon shoppers. Every single mouth dropped open, heads turned with a "what the hell..?" look - and just as quickly they were gone.
I wonder if anyone came back for the performance..?!
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