HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1965-05-13, Page 9GOD[RICHR, ONTARIOTHURSDAY, . MAY r13#tri 1905
Ater care ui consideration I
have deckled that •any :im+medi--
'ate coffers from Hdllywii'od wh.l
have to go by the board... .
rt took just ten hours of
"dress rehearsal blues" art the'.
weekend with the 'Goderich Lit-
tle Theatre group to make this
painfully clear.
Standing centre stage with
pints of perspiration pumping
from your pores makes you feel
.there might be possibly other
ways to spend a Sunday after-
noon.
Not that this was any differ-
ent than any other dress rehear-
sal (we hope) butt the feet -kill-
ing agonies of a.ten-hour ses-
sion would turn any comedy
onto stark tragedy for the un-
fortunate pllayers.
The month of preliminary re-
hearsals slipped away almost
unnoticed but this was the real
thing. Like cowardly soldiers
she1tering'in a front line..trench
the-stagefir-bhe-incor-r-e-,ct-sic
at rehearsals we knew there and .only the . most observant
was nothing to worry about. audience member- .would. have
(For the more literal readers noticed the mistake.
this was meant 'to be "a joke. I't bakes a perceptive audience
She did not Barry a whip. In to realize a good goof. During
fact it was a large club:) the afternoon an organ- had
The tiny, but terrifying audi- been; fitted in the, 'wings to
ence, which converged on Mac- a hake it look as though it was
Kay Hall during the Sunday being played on stage.
session's seemed like buzzards At one critical pointduring'
waiting to devour flesh—aur the. height of an argument it
flesh. had to play soothing music:
Theyhovered outside the cur- The ,following line readls (in
tains 'as frantic last minute anger) "Why not a hymn?" Un -
mechanical details were work- , fortunately, but quite in keep -
ed out. ,But as with the best ing with Sunday the stand-in
laid plans of mice and direc- organist had been playing a
tors the we1-oiled machine hymn. - ,
(lubrication not alcohol) was Finally at 11 .p.m., with the
stili missing a few cogs 'prior ,make-up starting to .streak. on
to opening night. our face:, we called it a day.
"Good Lord" , Alt this in the name, of art.
First of all we lacked the No doubt by Thursday "Yes
sound of a clock striking. This and No", will have reached fresh
may not sound like very much, _ heights and we will .be going
but to stand there and say: out there, "knocking them
'"Good lord, what's that?" fol- dead,"
we. were driven "over the top" lowing a moment of absolute sil- But if 'you just happen to see ^x £
by this production's own per= ence is quite ,disconcerting, , any of us on Thursday, Friday
sonal slave driver, director Ruth On a 'second run through a and Satur,lay, don't wave just 9, .
Leonard. a On
arrangefnent had laugh.....ha ...'ha ...It gets a
Of course a director is just :been'fl ade where part of a re- little -lonely up there especially
like everybody else. Just be- - cord Would fill in with some whenyouur feet are icil'ling 7:________________
___. _.. _ _ v_ _..._. . ___-� raisin -i, nrr._.:-...;Yracl�• rogtnel._..A_..i O45O�... ._..._..,_..._.. __ �_�.�.. _.: _.. .
Very .nice too --if we had hit
the right track of the record.
This time: "Good lord what's
that?" followed a bar from
"God: Save the Queen."
As was to be expected on this
first full rehearsal there was
worse to come. Have you ever
seen a maid put her hand
through the `glass" in a cup-
board door? We did. •
The s,ight nearly - sent the
''other members of the cast into
convulsions ,but aver pressing
on we encountered fresh de-
lights.
Bouncing Clock
As with any situation farce
there is' a certain amount of
boislterous activity on the stage.
The clock, which offended earl-
ier by not producing sound,
carne into the limelight again as
it practically bounced into the
audience when, a door was slam-
med.
Apart f: om these few tech
nicalities., v,hirh have now,, been
ironed out, the cast pressed on
unabashed. Only once did tho
afternoon rperforrnance seem
headed for disaster when some-
body goofed and jumped two
pages by mistake,
This left one._ ,unfortunate x:
stranded on the wrong side of
the stage unable to' make her
cerreet entrance. mut with true
trooper's spirit sloe swept onto
_- �StILLED TOUCH REPAIRS MAKE-UP
DIRECTOR
DIRECTOR HOLDS COURT