https://richardherring.com/warmingup/ en robs@notbbc.co.uk Mon, 20 Apr 2026 09:58:29 +0100 https://richardherring.com/warmingup/18/4/2026/index.html Sat, 18 Apr 2026 10:45:00 +0100 8541/21460First 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. https://richardherring.com/warmingup/17/4/2026/index.html Fri, 17 Apr 2026 13:53:00 +0100 8540/21459It was the dress rehearsal of Rita tonight, after a day of teching. We had gathered a small audience to give us a sense of where the laughs might be (and not be), so it felt very much like the first performance.But we were working properly with the costumes for the first time (more of an issue for Anna than for me, as I am just occasionally changing a jacket in between scenes). The dress is there as a learning experience and one had to hope that the people who'd come to see it would realise there would be some hiccups. https://richardherring.com/warmingup/16/4/2026/index.html Thu, 16 Apr 2026 10:54:00 +0100 8539/21458Obvs, my life is mainly rehearsals at the moment. I am not saying that I am the best actor in the world, but I am bringing some emotion to the part. I feel so sorry for the character of Frank, who has been trapped in his office at the University for his whole life, getting drunk, dating at least one student (she's a tutor here now, he protests) and failing to become a poet. https://richardherring.com/warmingup/15/4/2026/index.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 21:07:00 +0100 8538/21457Another 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. https://richardherring.com/warmingup/14/4/2026/index.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 21:06:00 +0100 8537/21456So the first night of the play is four days away, so this week involves a lot of rehearsal and last minute line learning. When I first picked up the book I seriously doubted that I would be able to cram all of my part into my decaying brain, but the signs are that we might just about be word adequate by Saturday. There's no place to hide in this play. I only have two exits in the 100 minutes we're on stage and then I immediately come back on again for the next scene. https://richardherring.com/warmingup/13/4/2026/index.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 21:06:00 +0100 8536/21455As far as good purchases go, this is a pretty good one.At some time around the start of this millennium or maybe a few years before I went to Lilywhites at Piccadilly Circus to buy some tennis balls. A cursory search online suggests that that shop closed in 2002, so this was at least 24 years ago.I bought three or four tubes of four tennis balls. They were Slazenger, Wimbledon Ultra Vis balls with Hydroguard, so none of your tat. The tube was supposed to be �£9. https://richardherring.com/warmingup/12/4/2026/index.html Sun, 12 Apr 2026 11:30:00 +0100 8535/21454I don't want to come across like the kind of person who asks idiotic questions on the internet, but, "Is it just me or were the last 20 years played on fast forward by accident?"Yesterday I was going into Celador to talk about all the ideas I hadn't had for the second series of acclaimed and well-remembered-by-all radio show That Was Then This Is Now and today, here I am, married, two kids and living in Hitchin.Actually that does feel like a long time ago. I think it's probably the last 18 years that have been on fast forward.