Direction

There is an anecdote about Orson Welles, and, like all stories that are fun to tell and illustrate a point in a concise and interesting manner, it's probably untrue. The story goes like this: Orson Welles, on his first day of directing Citizen Kane, his first feature film, walked onto the set to find hundreds of people, ostensibly under his command, waiting for him expectantly and, I like to imagine, staring up at him moonfaced and doe-eyed like little Oliver Twists. He turned to one of the more experienced set hands and asked quietly, 'so, what do we do?' to which the man replied 'you're the only one in this room who's not allowed to ask that'.
Orson went onto make one of the most seminal films of all time after that little incident, so I feel enspirited that I had much the same urge when I walked into the Bedlam Café for the first rehearsal of the 2014 production of Rob and Roberta. Yes, I have returned to directing after a two year absence which I hope future generations will refer to as my 'wilderness years', during which it's rumoured that I travelled to the other end of the earth to study under the twin-headed director-chimera, Shaw Keegan, who taught me about Opera and stubbos. It was kind of unnerving to return to a situation where everybody is looking to me for what to do, and I am not only allowed, but expected to tell other people how to improve what they're doing. Luckily, I cast the show extremely well: Izzy is grand and theatrical, Emma is awkward and neurotic, Daniel is shy and flighty, Adam is confident and affectionate, and Laurie is a...saint. What a saint, that Laurie.
I am also going to use this opportunity to apologise to Declan, who directed the Melbourne production of Rob and Roberta: I didn't understand how much of a bitch the final scene would be to realise when I wrote it. You may rest assured that Karma has now served me for my lack of foresight.

In December 2012, I attended the Bedlam Christmas party, got intoxicated in a bad way, had to be looked after by Rik and Colm, twisted my ankle and then walked home on it and then had to catch a train at seven the next morning. Not my fondest memory.
Still, it was with a very heavy heart that I went to my (probable) final Bedlam Christmas Party over the weekend, and got very drunk very quickly. This made the party a lot more fun and the next day a living hell. My brain felt like it was trying to worm its way out of my skull. And I had to sit in Bedlam for four hours and watch people read my words back at me: normally, I'm delighted to have that kind of validation, but this time it just made me feel slightly ill (this may also have been the questionable Korma I downed after returning from the party- not a weekend full of great decisions, I'll admit). This is not to put down those who auditioned at the weekend- it's just that Comrade Napoleon was dying and that makes me sad.
Of course, these auditions were for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and we now have a cast! Of the original production, only two people are returning- Jari and Leyla- and in completely different roles to the ones they had before. But the point of restaging TWWOO isn't to do it exactly the same as before- it's to try new things with the same basic idea, so I embrace this change. Bring on TWWOO two.

Scooby Panto is over, and I could not be more delighted with how it went: I had an absolute ball doing that show and I got to establish a reputation with the lower classes (read: the freshers), as a rather formidable force to be reckoned with and one who will not hesitate to castrate you.
Speaking of direction, I was really impressed with how Callum and Craig managed to strike a balance between cast creativity and control: at the end, as a present, we gave them hats which read 'Good Cop' and 'Bad Cop' ('Bad Cop' going to Craig, and 'Good Cop' to Callum), but it should be said that they both beautifully juggled the twin responsibilities of keeping us happy and getting what they wanted out of us. This is really not an easy act to pull off and they deserve so much credit for doing it.
I am so glad I did Panto, especially since it's looking likely to be my final acting performance on the Bedlam stage. I know that technically any show I do could be so, but as I near the end of my uni career, this obviously grows in probability with every show I do. I couldn't audition for any of the shows this time around because of the commitments of doing TWWOO (I gave a very half-hearted audition for Harvey, and got a callback for Aunt Chauverlet, I think just so they could see me in drag again). There are two more shows to be decided for the Bedlam season, as well as some miscellaneous pieces (an anachronistic Grecian theatre festival and Candlewasters, for example), but nothing's guaranteed and Daphne could well be my swan song in terms of Edinburgh acting. And what a brilliant motherfucking swan song she was.



Beautiful.