Saturday Morning

And here we are on the penultimate day of the Festival.  This morning dawned cloudy and humid, so the eyes scan the heavens again.  Please, no rain on the last night of Macbeth!

Into the Botanic Gardens this morning for a familiarisation of the groves where the breakfast tables will be set tomorrow morning for Sonnets at Breakfast.  Really, the gardens are holding up amazingly well under these drought conditions, and there are pockets of green that are simply beautiful.  The actors and the two directors walked the space, did voice checks, and tried out some of the pieces: songs, sonnets, and scenes.  The actors are a little confused at having to be as flexible as this performance needs to be.  They are so used to a structured approach, where one scene follows another always, and inevitably.  Tomorrow, as they promenade in pairs around the huge performance space, they are going to need to be aware of when a table wants some entertainment, and when to be left alone; when to do a quiet piece, and when a more robust.  It will be another wonderful learning exercise for them, and a marvellous morning for our audience.

The stage management and hospitality staff are on call for 5.30am, when they will transform the Botanic Gardens into a breakfast delight.  The acting company arrive at 8am to prepare, with an 8.30 arrival time for our guests.  And if it rains, it’s cancelled, but that proposition is just too awful to contemplate after such a season.  Surely not ...