Various emotions have reached uncharted peaks, whilst others simply don't have the time to be conceived. We've discovered everything from a silent oasis in the cattle farm that is commuter London, to a heartwarming flash of comedy in the middle of the harrowing experience of Distortion. Caffeine intake has increased by at least 100% to compensate for the heavy cuts to sleeping hours, and I've found myself squeezing out my laptop in some confined spaces!
April's bizarre wintry downpour reflected the odd mix of emotions that were bubbling up as we zoomed towards the start of rehearsals. The excitement of getting into the room boiled up each day with the arrival of a new prop through the post, all of which were conveniently timed - except one. The sand. Having decided to incorporate 15kg of sand into the show, Molly managed to sleep through the first-delivery-of-the-day-so-open-the-bloody-door-right-now doorbell ringing extravaganza. The Argos delivery lady quite impressively threw the sand into a bleary-eyed, just-half-fallen-down-the-stairs, half-asleep teenager, before letting me know to be careful because the bag splits really easily…
Anxiety and stress levels rose subtly throughout the week and gained serious momentum on Friday evening. Molly and I scrambled around the house making sure everything was ready for rehearsals to start the next morning. Scripts were printed, schedules created, impressive amounts of stationary had been purchased, props were delivered and assembled. All the organising, funding, budgets, writing, branding etc. was finished; the only thing left was to rehearse it.
Having spent the weekend training with the National Youth Theatre, I entered the rehearsal space for the first time on Monday. The dynamic was electric, and although I had felt left out with not being there for the first two days, I was immediately sucked into the group without a thought. Professionalism is not something that's necessarily expected between teenagers and adults, however, we were treated with a great deal of it. The only hint at the director being six years younger than her actors came about when talking about childhood songs. The days flew past and I found myself sinking into the commuter cycle that I so greatly feared; I spent more travelling and working than I did at home. It felt different this time. It felt good. My job was finally something I loved and wanted and craved, and "non-stop" was suddenly a new, welcomed adjective for my lifestyle. In my desperate attempts to work on the website whenever I could, I would take any moment to squeeze open my laptop a couple of inches and continue where I left off.
Distortion was coming along nicely, with energetic morning warm-ups flowing into scene and devising work. Molly was pushing the girls hard to discover incredible moments throughout the show - the most exhausting process was probably creating the two dances. We'd been given some fantastic music by John Callaghan which twisted and turned through a maze of genres and time-signatures, allowing for erratic changes in movement, emotion and imagery. Alongside the all-day workout, we also ran a planking competition throughout the week, with the goal being to beat your best. (This was the only was to make it fair as one of our cast members teaches aerial silks, a skill that requires ridiculous core strength.) Both cast members made it up to 5 minutes on the final day, equalling Beyoncé's daily routine!
The second half of the week brought gorgeous summer weather and having finished an hour early on Thursday, it only felt right to have a team bonding pint at the pub nearby. The combination of the evening sun, a delicious pint, and the relief that the show was in good shape created a decided friendship between us all. This was what success felt like, and the show hadn't even started! This time last week, Distortion was just words on a page, albeit excellent ones. Now it's an incredible display of talent and creativity and an experience for the actors as well as the audience. Tomorrow brings us to Brighton with tech on Sunday until midnight, and then the show opens on Monday!
Emily Aisher, Production Manager
Best of luck with the show!