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First night proper tonight and understandably there were some nerves. Not since student days have I needed to make quite so many trips to the lavatory before a show. But I need cocaines to get me through this, so what can you do?
The voluntary team behind the production are excellent and I was made to feel like the star I am with my name up in biro on my dressing room daughter. Sure they could only stretch to two pieces of tape, but it's the good kind of tape.
After running the first half on stage and the second half. in Anna's dressing room I settled down to listen to York City's penultimate match of the season. If York won and Rochdale drew or lost then York would be champions. York were cruising and Rochdale were one up against the already relegated Braintree so it looked like it was going to be an end of season showdown, Rochdale V York.
Then in the first minute of injury time, Braintree equalised. If they could sit out the next 6 minutes then York were going back into the football league. What an unexpected and brilliant boost that would be for my own performance tonight. My Rochdale supporting friend texted to say that York had done it and I replied that it was absolutely certain that Rochdale would equalise. They have had so many last minute winners this season (York have had a few too), because they are a battling and excellent side. Minutes passed, way more than six, the commentators at York were nervously and cautiously delirious. The crowd were tense but full of hope. York were seconds away from getting into the league proper.
Of course Rochdale scored in the 99th minute. 20 seconds longer and York would have been up.
Supporting York is always a triumph of hope over experience, but so many times this season it's looked like things are going our way only for results to suddenly change. I am almost certain that next week's match will be 0-0 at 98 minutes, with York only needing the draw and then Dale will score. And then York will go on to lose to Southend in the play-off final. I should put some money on it really. It's as inevitable as Macbeth.
Anyway, I had to get on with the show and York aren't out of it even if they lose next week.
Luckily the nerves off stage meant I was nowhere as near as nervous on stage tonight and we both put in a great performance. I made a couple of slips, but Anna rescued me when I inexplicably forgot a line that I have never come close to forgetting before and also improvised around me messing up the examples in the assonance bit.
Aside from that and a couple of lighting and sound cues going wrong, the costume issues were sorted and everything ran smoothly. I can't quite believe we've got to the point where (my failing tired brain occasionally going blank aside) we have got this.
I accidentally picked up four pieces of paper of my poetry instead of two and when I claimed the advantage it had over the telephone directory was that it was easier to rip. I attempted to demonstrate this, but sadly I discovered that ripping up four pieces was much harder than two and I struggled to make much headway and had to adlib "at least I thought it would be, it's harder than it looks." Which is quite a funny bit so it didn't matter.
I thought the tears weren't coming tonight, but then suddenly they were there. I think we convey the emotion of these characters well and that the audience feel the hurt and that atmosphere in the room hits me as a performer too.
Catie came tonight and seemed very impressed with the play, saying she forgot I was her husband after about ten minutes (though doubtless she's been trying to forget I am her husband for 14 years now).
We had a little drink in the green room to celebrate Anna's birthday and somehow the conversation turned to Happy Days and we tried to name all the sitcoms that were spin-offs from the show. We got the main ones, but there are some surprising other ones, a few very bad sounding pilots and
also a time travel cartoon with a dog called Mr Cool, that one person in the conversation thought they might have dreamt, but which turned out to be real.
Anyway nice pub quiz question. Without looking it up, how many Happy Days spin-offs can you name? You're not going to get them all.
Anyway, very proud of the team behind Educating Rita, especially Anna. Also, unusually, pretty proud of myself. Whilst I suspect that tomorrow we'll have a second show dip, where things will go wrong and we won't be quite as driven by adrenaline, I think this show will only improve.
Hopefully the last two shows will be performed safe in the knowledge that York City are back in the league.
