Urban Magic

Long Time…

Posted on Monday, February 15th, 2010 in: Misc., Writing

So, once again, it’s been an age since I blogged.

Here’s why….

RADA!  (Ate my life.)  We have been putting on a production of ‘Company’ by Stephen Sondheim which featured among its many lighting features… deep breath… UV cannons, mirrorball, 18 moving lights, 2 robocolours (thank you Royal Opera House), 1 glaciator (thank you National Theatre), 150m of festoon and 300 lightbulbs (thank you Sparks) two hazers, two wireless dimming lamps, twelve practicals and…

… and you know, a set, props, costumes, actors, musicians etc. etc. etc..

It’s been a little bit bonkers.  One of those experiences where you work 12 hours a day and then wake at 3 a.m. wondering what happened to supper.  Boritos!  How I have been dreaming of boritos!  Guacamole and grated cheese!  In the last weekend after the show went up, I’ve hardly stopped eating; it’s as if my body is attempting to compensate in 24 hours for the abuse of 15 days.  In an odd way, I haven’t really had any major, major jobs to do in the last two weeks, just a continual series of small jobs which have added up and added up until all I can dream about is DMX and the chorus line of ‘Side by side’.  (One of the camper moments in this otherwise surprisingly un-camp musical.  Glowing hula hoops?  Oh yes…)

And tomorrow, it all kicks off again, as we go into rehearsal for Measure for Measure where I am, again, you guessed it, Production Electrician.  But!  Prod LX for one of the coolest lighting designers in the country, on a play by Shakespeare The Dude, which so far promises to be nothing but an adventure from start to finish, so let’s keep those fingers crossed…

In other news, the Midnight Mayor publication date does indeed rush upon us.  Currently I’m a little bit concerned that I’ll be in a focus session on the great day itself (which is, in case you’re wondering, advertised on amazon.co.uk as 4th of March) but I herein solemnly swear that upon that day I will at the very least have a take away curry in celebration.  Lamb bhuna – is there anything in the world that lamb bhuna cannot make good?

It’s a peculiar thing being both a student and a writer at the moment.  At LSE it wasn’t something that really bothered me, since as a student I was in classes maybe 6 hours a week and the rest of the time I was reading, writing, in the theatre or with friends who cared as about as much for my literary exploits as they did for the Battle of Lepanto.  But at RADA, being a student is a relentless experience, a continual ritual that next to nothing is permitted to disrupt.  A phrase was thrown at me… ‘people who do lights professionally, take it seriously, live lighting’.  Well, here I am, taking lighting seriously, but live lighting?  I would no sooner live lighting than I would live writing, since both are equally important to me and, let’s face it, only one is paying my electricity bill.

There’s a lot to say about being a student at RADA, none of which I will say now!  It has its amazing moments, it has its absolute downers, (as radio 4 would put it… ‘and that’s like life…’) but I think all things considered, no matter how good or bad things are or may be or get, I’m ready to stop being a student now.

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