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Heading south for the winter. Oh yes, then north again!
November 2007
To all those of you who are bothering to keep up with our modest
mouse diary, thank you. If you have any questions regarding what’s
going on the crew side of the tour why not email on
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and ask away.
They say that teachers are always picking up colds and bugs from
working closely with children. Well, try working with big mice. I mean
dancers! Bugs, colds, flu, sore throats and a multitude of nasty things
seem to filter through the Company. I’m now on my second bad cold. On
our day off I spend most of it in bed. The shows at Dunstable are
fantastic, what a nice, nice theatre. Big thanks go to all the crew.
Further south and on to High Wycombe for six packed performances
over two days. Our lovely marketing department email me some audience
feedback, no surprise that it’s very positive. After a smooth get-out,
we contemplate tomorrow - driving up to Bradford and getting-in on the
same day!
A typical two days...
8:00 Monday morning and the crew are on the motorway and heading
north again. A look in the mirror reveals four very asleep people. I
settle down into a very boring and long drive up to Bradford, the bus
of the sleeping rolls on!
12:20 Arrive at Bradford, try in vain to get to the hotel, we can
see it, we can even drive past it, but thanks to an impossible one way
system, we just can’t get to it! Bit of a bonus here, thanks to my
bargaining powers and a very friendly sales manager, we were able to
secure rooms at the Hilton Hotel. It’s just round the corner from the
venue as well, result.
13:00 Start the get-in at St Georges Hall. This is mainly a concert
hall more used to the likes of Motorhead rather than dancing mice. We
are again flying everything out on one grid. Unlike Grimsby, there are
fewer places to hang our lighting and cloth tracks. After a little head
scratching, we get it more or less in place and fly it out. Yes, it
will work. We have no room in terms of wings, everyone seems to be
moving equipment more times than we normally need to.
21:00 Finish lighting, go back to hotel. Have drink in the bar, and sleep.
8:00 Breakfast, a fantastic breakfast at that! Could get used to this.
11:00 The Company take class on stage. As always, they are not bothered by the strange venue, they just do it!
12:00 I brief the local crew on what they need to do during the show. The stage is swept and washed.
Shows for today and tomorrow are 13:00 and 18:00. All goes pretty
smoothly and once more, Angelina sends lots of children (and adults)
away very excited and smiling.
The next day is the same routine. After the last show we start the
process of taking the show down and packing it back into the truck. Our
truck driver, Steve, helps get everything in the right place. We’re
tired, totally drained, but happy with a less than 2 hour get-out.
Day off!!! Sleep, cinema. Meet up with some of the Bradford crew for
a drink. Back to the Hotel and get ready to do it all again. Tomorrow
we drive to Stoke-on-Trent and a weekend of six shows.The mouse
handlers don’t stop!
Come back soon to get the next installment from the Angelina's Star Performance team.
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