The start of the Christ on a Bike tour has somewhat crept up on me. I've had a few weeks of relative inaction and should have been refamiliarising myself with the script and checking out technical issues and working out where the interval will go, but I haven't really thought about anything at all. It was only a couple of days ago that I realised that I might not have access to an exercise bike. I had assumed we could use the same one as we'd had in Edinburgh, but apparently not, and I really need a folding one for the tour in any case. For the first couple of shows at least I will have to do without it seems, which is not the end of world - it's a very minor part of it all. But I am annoyed with myself for not getting the ball rolling sooner. Perhaps I will discover that a mimed bike is a more sensible option after all.
Luckily I had the foresight to have a tech today because as it stands the projector set-up in the theatre is not good enough to cope with the tight pages of text that need to be displayed. So after an epic trudge through the sludge and snow from the BBC to Leicester Square (it was actually pretty easy and fun, passing at least one central London snowman) it was a frustrating afternoon trying to work out how we will get round this issue, realising I would need to do it all again tomorrow and bring in my own projector and screen (not an easy proposition, especially given the weather conditions). We only have 90 minutes between the previous show and mine to sort this all out and it's a stress I could do without given I have to remember the show as well. I am sure we will sort it all out, but it means I am starting with a sense of dread, rather than anticipation. And ticket sales could be better too. So much of the financial success of the long, long tour depends on London doing well and things are far from desperate, but I had hoped that the successful London run, plus the rise in profile I've had this year might make me more of a hot ticket. But perhaps people have other things on their mind on Christmas week than Jesus.
Please come along if you can, Londoners, if only to see if the first night is disastrous as my worse nightmares predict!
It's all just pre-show nerves I suppose, though I can't believe that I am only a day away from doing the first date of this 90 date tour and given how much of my living now depends on my tours being successful, it is perhaps not surprising that I am a little jittery. Though it's a bit off of Jesus to send down all this snow, just as I am about to start, to make things that extra little bit tough.
