As in, the last night (for the time being at least) of Snakes and ladders. And all, to be fair, a little bit frantic. I was not there for one thing, having begun our journey to India, with Sam Alexander taking over from me on the acting front. And to some extent on the reassuring Hamed front. Hamed called me at about 4, in something of a mild tizz about the Studio at Cardinal Newman College. The lights there were arranged for a performance “in the round”, and the person assigned to help them had disappeared. I reassured him as best I could that this was not a problem, that it was a matter of turning a few lights round to face the chosen area, and that Sam, arriving there soon, would be able to help… and sure enough Sam was able to send a reassuring WhatsApp message – “all sorted.”
It was actually quite entertaining to see the various reports of the group’s trek across London, but I was purely an interested spectator by now; they were all far too busy to talk to me. So the next message I received, waiting in the boarding area, was a message from Sam to say it had gone brilliantly, with no mistakes, a packed house, and a rousing reception. All hugely pleasing. For all of them, mostly, and especially of course for Hamed.
In the brief time since then, I have had a few more comments about the difference between the two productions. That certainly the second one had been cleaner and more accurate, with less running around in circles with the words. But on the other hand, more than one person has commented that the energy levels were not quite as high, for both actors and audience.
So Zhvan Theatre rests for a while, but there is the intention and strong encouragement towards returning to Snakes and ladders sometime soon (probably when I return from India.) Hamed needs to complete the story – at present his journey ends in Italy. And if he manages that, then we can rehearse again, and possibly look for either a theatre or a small tour. All very exciting.
