The Dress Rehearsal

Saturday 5th August
After a run through at O’Neills in Glasgow we made our first trip over to Edinburgh with Graeme taking on the gruelling task of driving. First we had to stop off in Cambusbarron outside Stirling in order to pick up Caroline, our lighting and sound operator. Caroline is rehearsing with Switch Theatre from Camden for Behind Closed Doors, which is on at Augustine’s, the sister venue of where we’re on.

The most amusing moment of the journey for me was when Victoria asked Graeme what The Ladyboys of Bangkok was all about. He replied deadpan “It’s just a bunch of lads taking it easy”.

Greyfriars Kirk House, the venue we are performing at, is a soup kitchen 11 months of the year. It’s quite a small venue, the room we’re in seats only 40 but it’s certainly suitable for what we’re doing. There’s a vegetarian café there, but no bar and there’s a slightly larger studio venue upstairs. A basic black box theatre there is a decent sized dressing room which is adorned with Hearts posters.

Just as we were about to get started I received a phone call. I’m advertising a room in my flat at the moment as my flatmate is moving out. When I picked up I was met by an American voice. Brad. Brad wanted to know a few things about the flat. For one did I smoke? No. For another was I straight? Um, yes. Good. Cos so is Brad. Any pets? Er, no. Great. How high up is it? It better not be the ground floor, because Brad has a lot of computer equipment and the ground makes him nervous. “Okay Tom, you tick all my boxes”. Yeah, funny that Brad cos you tick none of mine. Still he’s coming to look at the room tomorrow morning. He needn’t bother, as I can guarantee him he’s not moving in. This is what happens when you invite strangers to call you.

The run through had the usual hazards these things have. Using all the props for the first time the timing was slightly off and there’s always something you’ve never quite sure what to do with. The CD of musical cues didn’t work, which is a bit of a problem, but I guess we’ll wing it come opening night. Caroline seems to be a professional though, which makes one of us.

The show doesn’t quite have an ending as yet, although we know that it will involve a polar bear, somehow.

We stopped off for chips in Corstorphine on the way back to Glasgow. Victoria managed to upset the woman in the chippie by requesting tomato sauce for her chips. It's Edinburgh, it's brown sauce or nothing.