Photo: Kirsten McTernan
It’s 11 a.m. and I’m in bed, blogging. It’s the privilege of working from home that you can work anywhere at home … although blogging is hardly work is it? I feel no need to defend my actions however. Yesterday was one of those days where you get in to the theatre at 10.30am, tech the show, dress run and then present it to the audience before rapidly deconstructing and packing it away and then hitting the road for the three-hour drive home. I know there are plenty of longer drives home and I’m not complaining, it is what I want to do, at least that’s the theory. I spent most of yesterday in Aberystwyth Arts Centre not wanting to do the show. No particular reason, we had driven up the night before, stayed in the delightful Ffynnon Cadno B&B, had a fine meal at the The Druids Inn, Goginan and a pleasant morning drive into Aberystwyth after a hearty breakfast. But as soon as we started constructing the set and dealing with the technical difficulties of the show my enthusiasm evaporated. I know this feeling….its not building the set or the theatre space that take away my positive energy…it’s the weirdness of nerves. I don’t get excited or nervously animated, at least not on the inside, I get lethargic. My body feels unresponsive and I can hear my inner voice telling me “I don’t want to do this”. I know it well, it’s happened a lot, ever since I can remember particularly after a few shows…I just feel like walking away. It’s so weird that a show I love performing can just grate on me as soon as I hear the first bit of audio during the tech run and that’s what happens. Mrs Clark and I don’t really do just performing. We construct the set, light the space, drive the van… a familiar scenario to so many micro companies…and then we perform the show and then grab the snips and start undoing the magical cable ties that hold the whole set together… the truth be told I like all this. I can’t imagine it any other way but at some point I know that demon is going to pop into my head when I have to think about being in the show. I love Aberystwyth, I spent many a holiday there as a child, I have lovely family living near and on a clear dusky evening in spring when the starlings do their aerial acrobatics above the pier there feels like no greater place. Last night was no exception and the Arts Centre was packed with people of all ages. There were gigs in the main hall, theatre and studio. As soon as I put myself in the pre-set, my lethargy went and a healthy dose of adrenaline kicked in as the doors opened, thank God. We gather our fair share of audience, there were familiar faces in the crowd and lots of new people too. Its a crazy show, things happen that have not happened in any of the other gigs and showings. People are up choosing the next scene before we had finished the scene we were doing. I loved it…there was a real sense of anything can happen tonight and it raised new questions about the development of the format. The after show chat was really inspirational.
After a full on 65 minutes we load the van with a sneaky half pint (Thanks Richard) and have time for some quick hello’s. The Arts Centre give you an hour to get out and then start charging you an overtime rate (perfectly normal). We are at the end of the tour and budget so its a rapid de-rig…. and then at some point on the drive home I realise that this really is the end. Three new venues for Mr and Mrs Clark, three very different spaces to show the work and some brand new audience members reached. We’ve had a few new promoters approach us too and already the wheels are in motion to re-tour at some point and with that thoughts have begun to be shared about how we develop the show further. We will evaluate the whole process with the team in the next few days and then put it to bed as there is more work in March and an Edinburgh campaign to plan.
Photo: Kirsten McTernan
So its not really the end, or at least it doesn’t feel like the end. Right now I would love to do more performances of NINE despite my lethargic nervous crashes. So to all of those who participated in this version of NINE, who supported the cause or just simply came to see what it was all about ….thank you! Candy, Donnie, McCoy, Lilleth, The Fat Man and Betty are in stasis until the next outing and the Clarks marriage benefited from the Noir Therapy and the audience input…although it might not have always looked that way. Thank you for reading.
Gareth