Jonesieblog

Last night I went along the see Fiddler on the roof, performed at North Berwick High School.  It was a wonderful experience.  The singing and acting were incredible, and the musical accompaniment performed by students and music teachers was superb.

I can’t really put into words what a great privilege it was to be there.  My son was performing, and I have taught most of the pupils who were on stage.  I also sail with quite a few of the youngsters.  It was like being a proud parent thirty times over.  It was also special for me because it was the first school musical that I have been able to see, having been a performer in the last two shows.

“Happiness doesn’t come from having things – it comes from being part of things” as the saying goes, and I felt a huge pride last night at being part of the community that produced such a fine performance.

Lesley Hood devotes a huge amount of time every year to putting on the musical.  I don’t know where she finds the energy, but I’m very glad that she does.  She thoroughly deserved the rapturous thanks that she received from performers and audience last night.

Stumble it!

The first night of the play is tomorrow.  The play lasts a couple of hours and I’m on stage almost all the time.  That’s a lot of lines!  Once I’ve really learnt my lines, they seem to slip out of my consciousness.  It’s a wierd feeling.  I know that I know the lines, but they’re not  accessible to me unless I’m actually running through the play.  Scary.  Still, it could be worse – I could be the prompt!  That is without doubt the worst job in an amateur production.

Stumble it!

Next week, Tuesday to Friday, I’ll be appearing on stage in North Berwick in “Over My Dead Body” – a comedy about a widower’s attempts to lead a quiet life despite the best efforts of friends and family. It’s a funny show – come along and support a bit of local culture! Tickets are available from Seatons in North Berwick, or from me – priced £6 or £4 for concessions.

Stumble it!

And so it begins….the miserable task of learning my lines for the upcoming production of “Over My Dead Body”. I’ve been throught the book highlighting my lines, I’ve sat and counted how many pages I have to learn and I’ve counted how many discrete chunks of lines I have to learn, but I have yet to actually start learning my lines.

Learning lines is one of those tasks that suddenly make all the other tedious chores in life seem both pressing and interesting in comparison. So I’ve emptied the dishwasher – even put away all the plates and cutlery rather than leaving them in piles on a kitchen surface – and am now typing a blog entry when I should really be LEARNING LINES. Just about anything seems more appealing. Apart from cutting the grass, of course. There are limits.

Stumble it!