And....breathe...

Hello again!...at last!  Apologies for the delay but, as you can imagine, I've been a wee bit busy over the last couple of months!  I'm sitting here still pinching myself wondering if I actually just dreamt last week and how well it all went.

So how did we get here?...Well...The final run-up to the show was reasonably smooth and we scheduled an extra rehearsal in a different venue so that we could get another full run in just to be sure.  The last few rehearsals saw the pace of the dialogue pick up and get more natural and everybody found little additions to round out their characters.  We introduced kittens at the last 2 non-theatre based rehearsals and they stepped up like true little professionals.  They loved their mobile home - a pop-up enclosure that we could move between rehearsal venues and which would eventually live in the dressing room in 'kitten corner'.

My original 3D set design

I was nervous but looking forward to getting into the theatre and couldn't wait to see our fabulous set built on the stage and get a chance to start dressing it to make it look like a real 'home'.  Rene and her crew arrived at about 12.30 on the Wednesday and we started to unload the set from the van.  Despite a couple of measurement problems which were quickly overcome by the experienced crew, the set was up really quickly and then we had a bit of blacks adjustment and some furniture for our living room to  borrow from the 'snug bar' of the Roxy - 3 flights down!  Once we got everything in place I could get down to dressing, using much of the contents of our house and garage and some of our Christmas decorations which we had deliberately left out of the loft for set-dressing purposes (and are incidentally still not in the loft).  I was delighted with how good it all looked and can't thank my Dad enough for all his hard work in building it, Ross for his diligent measuring based on my original 3-D design and Mum for her impressive painting of all the woodwork.  I think you'll agree that they fulfilled my design ambitions and more!

Our dress rehearsal went incredibly smoothly, which every theatre person in the world will tell you is usually a bad omen.  But we weren't having any of that!  We had a few wee props issues to sort out, unsurprisingly after one theatre run, but Gillian was well on top of it with helper Gianluca and they made it all look easy.  I can assure you that it wasn't.  This was such a props-heavy show! They provided real, hot food for the Christmas Eve dinner, had everybody's personal props to hand when required and did a brilliant job of making the house look messier and messier as the situation on stage deteriorated.  They were a dab hand at creating the half-eaten mince pies that were left strewn around the set, although I'm sure they must have been sick of them by the end of the week!

Mike worked hard on the lighting states on Thursday morning and we had a quick check over them in the afternoon.  Neil had set up his sound cues well in advance and had been bringing them to rehearsals but we did a few final tweaks before opening.  I have to tell you that I am one of the most nervous people at an opening when I'm going on stage and this time I had double - possibly even triple nerves, as Director and Producer too.  However, I knew I had a great team and I just had to get on with the business of going on stage and performing.  One of the best feelings I have ever had was hearing the audience laugh for the first time in the first scene.  When you've been rehearsing for a long period of time you get used to the jokes and you wonder why you ever found it funny.  I was terrified that an audience either wouldn't find it funny or would be scared to laugh because, as a black comedy, the humour was based on sensitive subjects like mental health and death!  I needn't have worried - our Thursday night audience were amazing and lifted the show to a whole new level.  The audience reaction made me fall in love with the play all over again and I was standing behind the set when I came off stage for the first time with the biggest grin on my face!

​When we got to the bows it was quite overwhelming how enthusiastic the audience were and then when I walked downstairs to the FOH area afterwards and felt a buzz of excitement from the people milling about and heard words like "brilliant!", "fantastic!", "wonderful" and "amazing" it made all the months of hard work worthwhile.

​When we took the final bows on Saturday night it was quite a wrench to think that we'd be leaving the Llewellyn family behind.  And watching our wonderful set being removed piece by piece was very, very sad.

​But here we are on the other side!  The journey was long and bumpy but thankfully the wheels never actually came off the bus.  We might have lost a nut or two along the way but we held it together helped by a bus load of laughing, singing, talented, crazy, funny, supportive cast and crew....and kittens of course.  Their aunty Liz took brilliant care of them throughout the show in 'kitten corner' and they were spoiled with new toys and playthings virtually every night - and lots of cuddles.  I think we just may have tired them out!

So what's next you ask?  CATS?  No, I jest! But believe me I'm working on it already and I hope you'll join me on the next adventure!!