My Fat Fingers & Haunted By Dolphins...!

Dan, Jules, Me, Ange & Prentiss.

Gizmo befriending the Crew Room Guardian

A sign in a cool place called Bar 12. Great little pub band bar.

Me actually proving that the show is playing in a venue in London and that I'm not just on a drinking holiday!

The previous post shouldn't have been posted - clicked the wrong button & no, I'm not drunk or even have a hangover as I bailed from the venue last night and came straight home! The photo on the previous post is me & my 2 x Spot Ops, Jen & Mik.

Yesterday (Sat 22nd) was a weird afternoon show & it was just one of those freaky days in the theatre. When I left the Arts Centre I was given a soft toy Gizmo, a Mogwai - the fluffy creatures in Gremlins before they change. He's had a few adventures around town so far but yesterday was the first time he'd entered the venue. I think the venue Gremlins sensed him and just went to town! My operation of the cues was OK but my calling of the spots was completely off. If it hadn't been Jen & Mik up on the spots with knowledge of the show, it would have been messy. The Artistic Director changed the order of a couple of pieces about 15mins before curtain up so I was replotting blindly right up until curtain up. In three of the pieces, the guys nearly dropped their partner and it was highly visible. The band completely messed up the intro into the start of Act II - which doesn't help the LX Op when he has snap cues that 'Go' on particular beats!! 2 of the boys T-Shirts went missing from Dressing Rooms & all their Act 1 shirts all had this weird black oil substance on them after Ange had washed, dried & iorned them....! Really weird. What was different - I brought a Mogwai into the venue....! D'oh! Evening show went far better - guess the Gremlins (or ghosts) had made their point.

Speaking of ghosts - as all good venues are, The Peacock is haunted but not by a 'normal' ghost. Years ago the venue was a Burlesque Venue & you can still see the tubes where cages were lowered from out over the auditorium. Also, the main stage had this huge trap in it where this massive tank was rasied up for the finale. The lift under the stage, although not in working order, is still there. In the tank were 2 x performing Dolphins. When the club went broke, everything was abandoned & boarded up, years later the tank was found along with the 2 dolphins. Really sad I know but I ain't ever heard of a venue being haunted by animals before, let alone Dolphins!!

I've been out exploring a bit and have started to take my standard shots of signs, alleyways etc. Much better way to remember a place than the 'tourist' places. My good mate Julia came across for a few days. Haven't seen her in 6 months since she moved across to Amsterdam. She somehow managed to make it across just in time for the Opening Night Drinks...! Cunning! She then bailed back to the Dam on Fri but it was great to see her and we'll see her in another 6 months when we hit Holland!

A cool place to visit in London is a place called the John Soames Muesum. It's free to get in (they heckle for a donantion). Jen took me there the other day. This Soame bloke was a complete nutter! He was an architect back in the 1700-1800's and designed (from memory) the English Bank and numerous other London buildings. His house is just amazing - he bought 3 houses next to each other and then just remodelled & turned them inside out. As they had no electrical power in those days, his use of natural light is just amazing. As is his use of perception & space. He uses mirrors and all these little periscop type towers to capture & disperse the light! And the wierd thing is he actually lived in the house! It's a weird eclectic mix of all sorts of styles and it was all obtained thru auction - he only ever travelled abroad twice & they were both to Paris! It's really hard to describe how it all worked & photography was banned but it was an amaing little place. Would have loved this guy to have designed theatre sets. My favourite part is The Picture Room - just a room that has paintings hung in it but then the walls open up like a picture book to reveal even more paintings etc! Absolutely amazing!!

Anyway gotta go, Sunday maitinee awaits. Take care all catch you soon.