Web Diary
Show: Shakespeare's "Hamlet"
Role: Polonius (Minister to the King, Father of Ophelia and Laertes.)
Producer: Shady Shakespeare
Week 8: Opening At Last, the Final Report
Hell Week was certainly that for our intrepid band or merry makers. Monday and Tuesday saw much of our time taken up with the costumer who was still trying to get things done. Because of this delay we had no time for a full run through on either night. So, on Monday we ran Act 1 and then had a brief cue to cue for the act. On Tuesday we ran Act 2 and then had a cue to cue. So our first full run through of the week ended up being on Wednesday.
All this and I still did not have a costume. Grrrrrrrrrrr.....
I was so worried about this that I went out and purchased a back up just in case and brought it with me Thursday. But at that point my costume was completed. Or at least it was according to the costumer. However I added a belt and some jewelry of my own to complete the ensemble. As for the costumne I purchased, lets just say i will look smashing at the next Renaissance Faire I attend!
The run-through problem was quite a bother. Up to Wednesday we had achieved one, count em' one, run through off book. That was the previous Friday and truth be told it was not completely off book since some folks were still calling for lines (if you have read my previous diaries, you kow who!) We were still being told that we had to tighten things up but that is very hard to do when you do not have the momentum that a week of run throughs would have given us. All told, I would say I felt I was about a week behind where I should have been performance wise because of this.
However, Opening Night came and due to the unique magic that only effects opening nights, the show went off with hardly a hitch. Some people got their costumes last minute, but other than that the crowd was reasonable ( I would say between 50 - 75 people) and seemed to enjoy themselves. Saturday the crowd was a bit larger and then Sunday the group was back to about 50. Not a bad weekend opening for a Tradgedy. We will see if the crowds grow during the run.
This is the last of my diaries for the Hamlet production. I hope you enjoyed reading them. It retrospect it looks like a whole lot of whining, but since I had an outlet for my frustration, live smay have been saved. am debating whether to write a set of diaries for Dracula or not. If you have a preferecne drop me a line and let me know.
Be well!
Ross Arden Harkness