So we’re now in our new home – the beautiful bricked, windowed and bright rehearsal rooms of the Menier Chocolate Factory. Although we can now see the world outside of our rehearsal room, small battles continue – it can be slightly freezing at times and a few, ineffectual gas heaters are wheeled to-and-fro to huddle around. Sarah (SM) and I currently hog a whole one to ourselves. A rehearsal photographer visited this week which resulted in us all pulling ‘intelligent thinking’ faces at every opportunity. Ben, James and Claire were invited to record a pod-cast with Literary Manager Chris Campbell – look out for that on the Royal Court Website.
This week we have almost all our furniture and props to play with (including skateboards, board-games, golf clubs and herbal cigarettes to keep the cast occupied in tea breaks). We’re still moving along at a great pace. The company has already successfully stumbled/limped/hopped through the entire play on its feet. And what a feat it is. Emotional, funny, moving and distressing – line by line the play is a litany of complexities, which makes it all the more wonderful to watch. Borough Market is a delightful Thursday and Friday lunch treat and today we had cake for Victoria’s birthday (in-keeping with the venue, it was chocolate of course) and wished everyone a Happy Easter and a long weekend off.
By Caitlin McLeod