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Another step forward with rehearsals today, as Anna and I got together without any of the rest of the production team in the hope we could learn our lines (her partner then watched us run the whole thing in the afternoon, and prompted us when we ran dry).
It was encouragingly good, but at one point I slammed the door, which then stuck so we couldn't get into the wings. This is pretty ironic (dramatic irony maybe) as when the play starts the door is meant to be stuck shut. However, the way the studio space works is that if we can't get out through that door, then we'd have to walk out the venue, into the main venue and then go on a Spinal Tap style quest down multiple corridors to find the backstage.
Again it's good if this kind of thing happens in rehearsal so we can prevent it in performance or at least work out what to do. In the end Anna managed to barge it open and from then on it didn't stick anymore (though a little bit of wood broke off). If things don't pick up we can always rebill this as a The Play That Goes Wrong version of Educating Rita.
Could we have worse people in charge of the world right now? Though to be fair, the governments of 20 years ago should really have been the ones to rush into action. We're still led by people intent on heading back to fossil fuels and keeping us reliant on oil, however much they have to spend on wars to gain access to it.
I really hope humanity can survive, if only because I'd love to see how the people of the future document this time (though there may be a few reasons why that might not be possible). We thought the Victorians were bad, sending kids up chimneys, but they've got nothing on the relentless and self-defeating determination of the people at the top, to destroy the environment, eradicate jobs and own as much money and resources as they possibly can. I like it was a satire of the monetary system. I assume Elon Musk rand his kind realise that the minute they own all the money in the world then money will have no worth at all. If no one else can use it and you refuse to give any to anyone else, then suddenly the whole facade of the economic system turns to dust. You win and you lose. It might be worth stopping when you have accrued enough wealth to last 100 lifetimes. Then enjoy spending the money with 99 friends.
Oh you don't have any friends
The chances of the Atlantic current system collapsing and the world's billionaires having to face off against a huge army of starving, jobless, homeless aqua-people (the last one might not happen) are roughly the same. And still the billionaires treat the path to their (and our) inevitable doom.
Willy Russell writes about the tragedy of drama and how Macbeth is forced towards his own doom by the flaw of his own ambition, ignoring the constant warnings he receives. Tragedy is something that is inevitable and preordained. It feels like we're all just assuming that's the case for the planet.
And frankly, it's hard to argue that it's not inevitable. I think the only sensible approach is to double down on war and coal mines, just to show the environment that we will not negotiate with terrorists.
Also we might want to be a bit nicer to people fleeing warzones and environmental disasters, cos in about 20 years, that could be us. I love everyone in Australia and Asia, and you’re welcome to stay at mine on holiday as long as I can live with you when the UK in uninhabitable.
Ha, the joke’s on you lot. No way will I be alive in the 2040s. I am carrying on regardless.
