The Winter's Tale - night 5

The inevitable happened and the arrival of Harry's baby is imminent, meaning director Richard steps into his place. This increases tension slightly as we're all wondering how it will go, though he assures us: "I think I know the lines." We run through the dance steps and lip-synching beforehand.

We all want it to go well, so we're very focused and the tension increases through the first hour. There are a few walk outs when we move back outside. One distracted me slightly, but I recovered. As usual no one else notices, Radar admitting he just listens for his cue in the last line of each speech. The rain holds off nicely, just starting to spot as we move back inside for the final two scenes.

It's getting harder to squeeze out tears in the finale. I'm tired and the tension in my head is impeding me somehow, drawing me back to reality. This changed abruptly after the end when the 88% of the audience who remained gave us an extra curtain call!

One night left now. I'll feel sad tomorrow and next week will seem quite empty. But as Richard pointed out, Oedipus Rex is coming up in a couple of weeks...

The Winter's Tale - night 4

Another sell out tonight, thanks in part to the 25 Swiss students and their teacher who formed the bulk of the hardy souls who braved the weather. The forecast had said rain would move across the Midlands and possibly reach East Anglia by the evening, but we were still disappointed when it arrived. Thankfully the CD player held out, the rain didn't get too heavy and we didn't have to opt for the unrehearsed wet-weather option.

It's always nice when someone stops to say how much they enjoyed a performance. Tonight Margaret, one of the students, tells me about similar performances she's seen in Basle and how much more she enjoyed this one!

Sometime ago I adopted a policy of going up to people whose work I like and telling them. This isn't usual in a country handicapped by the famous British Reserve, but positive feedback is important, particularly for artists who are working hard to make a name for themselves. I wasn't looking for anything myself, but over the years it has led to a brief chat with the lovely Martha Wainwright, a couple of conversations with members of now sadly defunct (I can't take the blame for that) Canadian female rock group The Organ and a friendship and opportunity to work with multi-talented singer Piney Gir.

What could happen if you told someone how much you like their work?

The Winter's Tale - night 3

I dashed home slightly early from KCUK, meaning I was able to get some tea and relax for a bit before leaving for the Leper Chapel, any tiredness disappearing as soon as soon as I left.

The director's pep talk was aimed at focusing us more on our performance and not taking too much notice of the audiences' reactions. Specifically, don't worry if they're not laughing at the jokes and applauding all the songs. It's not an indication of quality and Saturday's performance was just as good as Sunday's from his perspective.

There was a little tension around after two nights off, but it quickly evaporated once we started - until we reached the Sicilian scenes and we put it back in.

A few lines were skipped somewhere in the middle but it was hardly noticeable - certainly not to the audience, another sell out thanks to the people who turned up on the night.

The Winter's Tale - night 2

A fantastic second night thanks in a big part to a responsive audience who laughed at the jokes and applauded the music.

Perhaps we relaxed into the performance more. Buoyed by the response to the opening scene, our confidence, energy and focus all soared. Individual and chorus lines were clearer and the performance built to a wonderfully moving ending. Tanya, powerful the first night as Hermione, was explosive in the trial scene. All the actors were buzzing both during and after.

I was much happier with my own performance, only mixing up two lines and hitting most of the chorus lines.

Now with two days off before we return Wednesday evening, I have some time to polish my presentation for KCUK on Thursday.

The Winter's Tale - opening night

A good opening night, four-fifths sold out and only two walkouts, citing "claustrophobia" - which indicates the second scene works! Paul has developed an excellent performance, starting weak and transforming into a menacing jealous Leontes. The vaudevillians routines work well, although I mess up a couple of times.

I did cock up one part quite badly and froze, my mind blank, thinking the whole performance was about to collapse, but Harry stepped in quite brilliantly and picked up with his next line. And no one noticed anyway, as usual. Perhaps I will relax a bit more in subsequent performances.

I particularly enjoy Harry and Rachael's transformation - partly because it means I've just spoken my last line - which sets up a wonderfully moving ending that candlelight makes especially atmospheric.

"Go together, you precious winners all..."

The Winter's Tale - final dress rehearsal

An exciting run through this evening which came in at just over two hours.

Whatever slip-ups there may have been were barely noticeable. The music queues were almost spot on - if I can just nail a few more chorus lines...

Tickets meanwhile have been selling well even - better than Oedipus at the same time last year - and we should be close to selling out every night with the additional coverage in the Cambridge Evening News and Cambridge Crier this week.

"It is required you do awake your faith"

The Winter's Tale - penultimate rehearsal

The mood is confident at the Leper Chapel tonight. Lines are mostly learnt and we're going to concentrate on some of the transitions and choruses which have been tripping people up.

This goes well, running over the detail of some of the slightly more ragged scenes, but ultimately it's down to us to know the lines. Tanya is unfortunately sick, while Harry's baby is due today and director Richard is understudying his role. Still we manage to get a lot done and finish with a speed run through the whole thing.

This is useful as it means we get to experience the whole play again - minus the music - but it does place additional stress on the actors to get their lines out... Just as I was confident of having them all, the tension is ratchetted up another notch and they spill all over the grass leaving me grasping for the sense of the information I have to impart.

Better now than Saturday night...