A Letter to santa

I can hardly believe it’s almost December!  Around about now children everywhere are posting their letters to Santa or probably emailing/Facebooking/Instagramming/Whatsapping him in our digital age.  Personally, I prefer the idea of writing the letter and then putting it on the fire to miraculously arrive with him completely fresh and un-singed via the chimney (but I’m old fashioned like that).  I digress...
The clock is ticking on our production and we’re ramping up on the preparation in both the performance and technical aspects, so there are a few things I’m sure Santa could help me with (you’re never too old to send a letter to Santa, right?).  We’ve been doing everything from choosing wallpaper for the set (yes, we have that wallpapering job to look forward to) to heading to the recycling centre to rake around for an old telly!  Everybody is pitching in and rehearsals are really getting quite intense now too as we all try to get off book.  The sheer quantity of dialogue is quite overwhelming – particularly to those of us used to bursting into song every five minutes!  It’s slowly coming together though and prompting is required less and less with every run.  Only 3 more rehearsals to go before the Christmas break, so no time to relax!
No 1 on my letter to Santa…Make the words stay in my head and come out of my mouth at the right time!

We’ve also been doing some serious preparation for an exciting cast announcement.  I’m not giving anything away, but in a couple of weeks we’ll have some fun news to share with you all, so watch out on all the social media channels.
The programme is another thing that we’re already thinking about and finding time to chase advertisers, write a welcome message, write and edit biographies, design graphics, develop content and organise photos is a bit of a nightmare, along with the day job, Christmas shopping and life in general.
As you can see it’s busy, busy, busy, so you’ll have to forgive me if I get a bit behind with the blogs and social media posts - but there’s lots of good stuff amongst the madness!
No. 2 on my letter to Santa...An extra day in the week!

One of my favourite experiences as a Director to date has been watching the cast grow as performers.  A good example was when I asked one of the young cast members to do a particular action that would just give her character a bit more of a sinister edge.  I was then delighted when she not only did that action but then carried on the theme adding in odd subtle touches of her own to her performance that really caught what I was trying to get across.  It showed not only a great understanding of her character but an understanding of what I was asking - and there is no better feeling as a Director than when your cast ‘get it’!
I’m certainly learning a lot with this first production and anybody who tries to tell you it’s easy has obviously never tried it!  Running a theatre company – even one as small as ours - is a lot of hard work, but there are lots of little triumphs along the way.  When I look back at all we’ve achieved so far and how well it’s all coming together I feel quietly proud.
So the final thing on my Christmas list?...An audience to come and see all our hard work!  Thank you to those who have already bought tickets – I know you won’t be disappointed!  If you haven’t got yours yet then please do get your order in and come and support us.  We’re nothing without an audience!
P.s. Santa – there’s an extra mince pie in it for you if you tick off everything on the list!