Entry for 5th December, 2008 - Debacle

Periodically, my theatre company takes a show on tour. This is an ambitious project for us, since we all – actors, producers and backstage team alike – have day jobs. And to be honest, the task of taking a whole production on the road at weekends, is probably stretching us just a little thin. But I suppose that we are all the type of people who – for some bizarre and unclear reason – like to be stretched thin, and who find that pushing ourselves up a hill we thought that was beyond our limits opens up new horizons.
Having said this, sometimes we don’t quite make it up the hill, and we wind up panting at the side of the path, throwing up into a whin bush. Our sojourn to Castle Douglas, was such a trip. Our gig will not go down as an artistic triumph. It is hard to pick a highlight. Was it the actor who wandered on in the wrong scene? Was it the comedy sound effects randomly coming on in the last scene? Was it my own abject failure to finalise the position of the set for two long hours?
I have mentioned before that the theatre is sometimes magical. However, more often than not, it is a bit crap and involves driving a rattling van back through the countryside at 3 in the morning while the other members of the crew have fallen fast asleep and are drooling on your shoulder.