Better late than never... I guess

On a scale of one to ten, how bad do you suppose it is to be 40 minutes late to a pre-audition audition? Hmmmm.... That's what I thought, so it's safe to say that I have made a bad impression this afternoon then!

Earlier in the year I auditioned for the part of Kyra in Skylight (by David Hare). I got the part but turned it down as the performances clashed with the end of my course. But the director postponed the play until November and asked me to audition again when he recasted, which was today and next Sunday. Today was a read-through so that actors could get an idea of the parts, before next weekend's audition proper. I thought it was at 4.30, but got a phonecall from the director at 3.40 to ask me where I was, as it had started at 3.30. Needless to say, I drove like the wind to get to the theatre, but was still VERY late and on the receiving end of some unimpressed faces. Ah well, 'tis all in a day's muddle for me!

On a lighter note, last night I went to the theatre to see a play called Two by Jim Cartwright, he of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice made famous by Jane Horrocks. Jak was prompting and two friends, Duncan and Bertie, were in it. The play is set in a pub, with the landlord and landlady leading the charge, and the two actors playing them also playing the various customers who pop in for a drink.

By turns poignant and funny, scary and slapstick, the play was brilliantly written and the various characters wonderfully observed. From a little old man who has conversations in his head with his dead wife, to a violently jealous man and his downtrodden, defeated wife, a colourful array of characters pass through the doors. And all the while, the landlord and landlady deal with their own unresolved problems, weaving seamlessly between their clientelle and coming to a head after closing time. Duncan and Bertie did an amazing job of bringing all the characters to life, and Duncan's crazy 'dad' dancing will go down in the annals of the theatre. Oh how I wish I'd had a video camera.