Devils review

There is a review for our play of The Devils on the Lumiere website.

You can now read what someone else thought of our demonic possession, although the reviewer mentions that the play was set in 'murderous medieval England', when in fact it is seventeenth century France - where there were tens of thousands of people persecuted and killed for their religion.

During this period, there were about sixty people murdered for similar offences in England. This is a big distinction, as it reveals the terror and the pervasive evil of the times. However, of course when referring to religious persecution, one death is one too many.

Final night

Well, The Devils is over and I feel slightly bereft. I keep getting a strange feeling approaching panic as I think that I should be somewhere, doing something, and then I remember that it is all over - for now.

I met so many great people and renewed some old friendships. I just love theatre people and doing shows is so much fun - all these people come together from different backgrounds and combine to produce an ephemeral work of art that means so much to the peole involved and can never be duplicated. I hope to stay in touch with as many of these folk as possible - you know who you are!

I learned so much from my fellow cast and crew members, led by Phil Mann who was a colossus of a director and one of the best I have ever worked with. Many thanks to all involved, and to all the audience who came to see it. I am now going to attempt to catch up on my sleep and empty my mind of some of those weird lines. Croak!

Opening Night

I am in a play that opens tonight. The play is The Devils by John Whiting, and it is on at the Gryphon on Ghuznee, presented by Stagecraft.

For the next two weeks there will be late nights (I’m unlikely to be home before midnight), spotty skin (I don’t usually wear make-up, but you have to on stage or your face disappears under the lights), cramped dressing rooms (27 cast members in about a 4x3m room with low ceilings), smelly costumes (I play a nun with a hunchback and I do a lot of writhing on stage – those things are not made of sweat-free fabric), and poor nutrition as eating habits (no pun, or indeed po nun, intended) become erratic at best.

My housework will remain undone, my exercise regime will suffer and my husband and cat will feel sorely neglected. So why do I do it? Because I love it! I love that opening night feeling; the buzz of excitement and nervous energy backstage. I love the feeling that so many people have worked together to put on a production that will entertain and provoke.

And I love acting – playing different characters and throwing myself into roles. I get to wear costumes, pull expression, speak words and vent feelings I would never do in my own life. I am a voyeuristic magpie, borrowing from the experiences of others and presenting them back to them.

I want to make people laugh and cry, gasp with horror and smile with understanding. I want to make them think. Above all, I want them to leave the theatre with a greater understanding of something – anything. I know it works for me. I just want to share that feeling.

If you’re in Wellington between now and 31st May, come and share it with me.