Second Day

I spent the morning writing in one of our rehearsal studios today. I'm trying to complete the show's final song which is proving to be trickier than I'd hoped. The cast was learning music downstairs, so I headed to the upstairs studio where the stage management team was marking up the space with tape so that everyone knows how big the acting area's going to be when we start to put the show on its feet. The Arts Theatre has a rather small stage, so knowing its exact dimensions is vital. We'll need to use every inch of available space.

There was a lovely calm atmosphere in the space: Luke, the director, was discussing props. Winter sunlight was streaming through the windows of the room, and at one point everyone suddenly started glowing rather magically! It's so lovely not to need to worry about things like props. I don't need to worry about what the chewing gum looks like, or how the candles are going to arrive on stage. There's a team of hugely capable people in charge of that... All I have to do is write some music!

Brother Edward popped into the rehearsal space this afternoon and found it rather surprising that the two of us weren't rushing around, running rehearsals and getting our hands a lot dirtier. He's obviously far more used to my normal projects, which often see me juggling eight balls whilst attempting to walk on a tight rope!

Instead, we had a nice cup of tea, looked at the costume designs and the model box of the set and then stuck our heads into the note-bashing session to listen to the cast learning a song called Penetrate the Base (fnah, fnah). Double entendres aside, they sounded brilliant!

We're coming home now to have a stir fry and continue working. There were a lot of distractions today, so I didn't achieve nearly enough.