Vodka and tea in Sevenoaks for Past Half Remembered

Saturday was a day of travel into the UK as Iva and Marie flew in from Norway, Nikola from the Czech Republic, Elke from Belgium and Aude from France.

On Sunday, Anna and Rew got a train from Bristol and Anna Healey, Bob, Alex and Kieran travelled from London to meet up with everyone in Sevenoaks for a day of re-rehearsals.

After unpacking the set fresh from festival touring in Japan, Sunday was spent going back through the show and rehearsing the music ready for 2 shows on Monday at the Space, Sevenoaks to packed audiences!

We also got some critical supply of tea ingredients for the samovar and vodka for our waiting audiences this week.

(written by Cat Moore)

Exit Sweden, enter Denmark

We finished our shows in Stockholm and said extensive goodbyes to the technicians who'd helped us during the past few days. We all really enjoyed Stockholm and the C/O stage in the Stadsteatern, and are keen to go back there.

This is all of us on our stage.
We wanted our helping hands in the picture too, so we called them over.

The two extra people in the following picture are Ole and Robert, two of the technicians.
Daniel (the man who focused our lights, somehow didn't make it into this picture, but he is in the one below).

What I didn't realise until I loaded these pictures into my computer, is that Kjell tried to dismantle the space (presumably to take it with him). That's how much we liked it there...

Winter in Stockholm

We are in Stockholm. It is sunny but cold.
This year winter seems to last a very long time. We saw the snow arrive in Tromso at the end of September, and it is now mid March and we are still surrounded by snow.

But anyway.
Our flight from Oslo to Stockholm was very smooth, and when we arrived we were greeted by two taxi drivers, one of which was eating an ice cream.
We piled all of our stuff into two cars and managed to make it fit (it was tight), and drove to the theatre. The driver of the car I was in didn't seem to know where he was going and consulted a map that looked at least 20 years old.

He got us close to the theatre and made us walk the rest of the way. The Stadsteatern in Stockholm is so enormous a street runs through the middle of it, making it even harder for us to find out where to go. So we ended up in three small groups: me, Iva, the kids and Lenka were in the main hall, and couldn't see any signs for the C/O Lilla Scena where we were supposed to be. We'd left Kjell by the car awaiting further instructions of where to go - and assistance with the rest of the stuff. We had no idea how far away the others in the other car where and whether they'd also get dropped off somewhere quite random.

In the end we all found each other and found our stage.

We were given some tea and rehearsed the music for the show.

The next day (Tuesday) I went in to set up the lights and we did a run through in the afternoon. Then Alex and Cat arrived and we played to a nearly full house. It was great fun and after the show we were taken out for dinner by the theatre.

Yesterday I went for a wander through Stockholm while Kjell, Anna and Aude did a workshop with some actors from the ensemble.

I watched a bit of the changing of the guards at the royal palace.

Later in the afternoon we met some of them for a chat about how we worked and how they worked. This theatre employs 150 actors. We didn't meet them all.

After the show last night, Tom, Anna and I went into the old town to see a bluegrass band called Le Chat Mort. They were great.

Ready for Sweden

We finished rehearsals and played a show to a very small audience of friends yesterday afternoon. It was a slightly ominous start as the fire alarm went off about 15 minutes before we started.
Initially there was a voice that kept repeating: 'this is a fire warning, the alarm has been set off and we are locating the fire'. Or something like that (it was in Norwegian). The voice went on for what felt like an eternity, and then there was some kind of alarm.
We briefly thought Iva had set off the alarm with the iron, but that was very unlikely. She unplugged it anyway.

Then a man came into our space (of which we had carefully blocked the fire escape, so he had some issues coming in), asking if we'd been cooking. The alarm system pointed at the bar outside the space we were working in. Only we hadn't been cooking, unless you'd call making tea cooking.

He said it would all be ok, but then the voice said we had to leave the building.
So we did.
Our audience arrived and we had a chat with them outside and waited.

And then, at 2.58pm, we were allowed back in. Apparently they'd been making too much popcorn in the cinema downstairs.

The show was fun, the audience seemed to enjoy it, and then we packed up and headed back to Kjell's house to celebrate his birthday. It turned out to be quite a party, and it was a fantastic end to a great week.

Today we have a day off and we're all going to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D.
And tomorrow we all fly to Stockholm.

Walking on water

't Is the snowy season. 't Is also the birthday season.
Last night we celebrated Anna Moberg's 8th birthday. She got presents, cards and cakes. We screamed the devil out of both cakes, and ate them.

Afterwards we all felt quite full and decided to go for a walk to the fjord. Over dinner we had discussed walking on the frozen sea, and even though Kjell's brother didn't seem too convinced about the safety of the ice in Holmen (where we were), we gave it a go anyway.

We walked on water.

A snowfight followed, and Tom stopped to get the snow out of his shoes.
To me it seemed as if his method would get even more snow into his collar and possibly into his pants, but I guess his shoes would be ok.

We found our way back home, everyone was refreshed and the cakes had been digested, and we had an early night.

Today we did two run throughs and celebrated Kjell Moberg's 40th. With delicious fish and more cake.

Tomorrow we will play for an audience of friends and then we'll have a day off on Sunday before we all fly to Stockholm.

Half Past Remembered...

... is the name of a song Corin Raymond wrote for/about NIE.

We're now all in Asker, rehearsing Past Half Remembered. 

Yesterday I arrived with the van and as I would never manage to get up the hill to Kjell and Iva's house, Iva met me down at the bottom of the hill to take the instruments up the hill in her car.

We nearly got up the hill... Very very nearly.

If you can't get up a hill on snow, the only way out is to back down. But Kjell and Iva's driveway has a tricky curve, and backing out on a curvy hilly driveway is not easy. So Iva got the curve wrong and got stuck in a meter of snow. Both of us got the shovel out to uncover the wooden box of gravel (which was also covered in a lot of snow). We threw gravel in front of all of the wheels and tried again. No joy.

So we decided to ask Anna and Aude for help.

In this case pictures say a lot more than words, so all I will add to this is that we spent an hour getting the car all the way to the bottom of the driveway.

After all of that we felt like we'd had a decent workout (with pushing the car, shovelling snow, getting gravel back and forth).

We made no further attempts at getting the car up the hill. We parked it in the car park next to the van.


Then Alex and Tom (Anderson) arrived and despite Alex' encouraging, I refused to attempt to get the big van up the hill.

We had an early dinner and headed to the office in Oslo for a music rehearsal.

We made Tom (Anderson) work very hard for a few hours and then called it a day around 8.30pm.
We had late dinner and waited for Tom (Mechacek) to arrive.

This morning we got up for an early start to attempt to guide Tom (Anderson) through the whole play.
Every now and again we got side-tracked because we were having too much fun reinventing some scenes. We got quite far through it though, and Tom (both of them) did a great job, so tomorrow we'll crack on, get to the end and try to run through the whole show.

Ok, Wake Up!

I know it's been quiet for a while, but we're about to get into some serious action.
(I believe the guys from B61 have already been in action during the past week, but as I wasn't there, I have no first hand information).

As of tomorrow, I'm back on the road.
Still in the new van.
I'm convinced the initial hiccups must have passed now, and me and Mr Tatmobile are off to the ferry to Goteborg tomorrow.
From Monday the PHR (Past Half Remembered) team will meet up in Oslo to re-rehearse. A man called Tom Anderson will alternate David in the show, and we'll spend a week getting him worked in. He's no stranger (he is part of the New Arrivers gang), so I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun.
Then we're off to Stockholm, one of my favourite cities in Europe, even though I've only been there once and it wasn't for very long.

Then straight after that, we're going to Denmark, to a village near Haderslev. I can't remember the name of the village, but you'll hear enough about it once we're there. Why are we going there? To be closer to Margit, who will be performing at that time.
And while we're there, we'll be rehearsing the Sea Journey. It's been a few months since we've been on the boat, and I for one am very excited to explore what we got out of it. David just emailed most of the music we made on the boat, and listening to it brought back fond memories.
A few weeks ago in Graz, Alex was saying he'd like to go around the world on a cargo ship one day. We couldn't work out how long that would take.
I'd like to go around the world without flying. But not just with boats. Boats and trains seems like a great combo.

So that's March laid out for you.
I will keep you updated as always, and if you're around in Oslo, Stockholm or the small Danish village: come and say hello - and put your stamp on our van.

Game over

When we arrived at the theatre, we found this in the dressing room... (thanks, Adam)




After a re-match on Mr. Catch with the ushers of the New Victory, we played our last show.
This is everyone just before the show.

Last One

This is it. Our last day in New York. We will play one more show this afternoon and then we all go home for some rest. Not too long though, because on June 3 we're back at work, rehearsing for further touring with different shows.

If you want to come and see us, in June we'll be in Hango (Finland), Recklinghausen (Germany), Linz (Austria) and Hradec Kralove (Czech Republic).

The sailors are in town

I forgot to say that it's Fleet Week in NY this week. It means the city is full of young men and women in very white uniforms. It's quite a surreal sight and in some ways feels like going back in time. Many of the comedy clubs or bars have signs up saying servicemen can come in for free.

I can't stop myself feeling tempted to accidentally spill something on those pristine white shirts and trousers. And shoes (they look the weirdest).

They arrived in their ships on Wednesday, and stay around for memorial day, which officially is on Friday, but will be celebrated on Monday. They will leave with their ships on Wednesday.

Show 200

Yesterday morning we played show number 200. So after the second show of the day (show 201) we all went for dinner to celebrate. Considering everything's big in America, we had the most enormous steak (16oz.).
Afterwards we had to go for another drink to try and start digesting it.






There are only two more shows left now. The Mobergs and Aude are leaving tomorrow, the rest of us on Monday.

More sign language - if you're interested

Look at how the French sign for 'dead' is different from the American sign.

Look how Robin really goes for it when he translates Dave's singing.

One of the kids had picked up the envelope and put it in his pocket. But nothing escapes Tomas.

Moving my passport 3

This is the last installment of the passport story. I have my passport back now, even though the last bit was quite stressful. I went back to the Zambian embassy to find out that my passport was ready, but inside a safe in a locked office, and the only person with the key was stuck in traffic. So I waited for an hour, getting more and more annoyed because I had to get to the theatre.
The woman finally arrived, so I grabbed my passport off her and ran to the theatre.

I'm all done now with the passport business, just in time. I love it when a plan comes together.

Some sign language

There will be more later, when I have time to convert some of the other videos.

Belgian waffles in NY

I found this place last night so I had to try out the Belgian waffle. It passed the test. It really did taste like the ones on the Grand Place in Brussels. 14th St if you want to give them a try...

Licence to dance

I learnt something about NY. If you run a bar, and you want people to be able to dance, you need a licence.
Anna and I just went to a piano bar/open mic thing where the waiters were musical theatre actors combining their waiting job with taking turns at singing, and basically anyone could make a request to sing, and there was a sign up that said 'please no dancing'.
I laughed at it when I first spotted it, but an hour or so later a couple started dancing and the barman (who just finished his lot of songs) told them to stop. So we asked him what the deal was, and he explained they didn't have a licence for dancing.

NY is a strange city.

More people on stage

Today we had our first signed show. Candy and Robin joined the rest on stage to translate the show into sign language. They did a fantastic job, and I learnt a lot. I knew that sign language is different in different languages (not that that's ever made sense to me), but now I've seen proof of it. Robin would translate Aude into French sign language and then Candy would translate that into American sign language. The gesture for dead is definitely different.
I forgot my camera so I don't have any images, but if Robin and Candy agree, I will make some short video clips when they're with us next time (on Wednesday).

We never had a signed show. We were meant to have one a year ago in Edinburgh, but the signer ended up in the other space and signed Sgaramusch's show instead. It's great to have two signers, though, as I can assume it gets quite difficult if lots of people talk and interrupt each other.
But as Candy and Robin each 'played' different parts, it seemed quite clear to follow. They also changed positions according to what was happening on stage. So when Robin was translating Aude, and she was on the left of Tomas, Robin would be on the left of Candy.

All very interesting. And hopefully I'll be able to post some video on Wednesday.

Saturday in the big city

We had two shows yesterday and because it was the NY Food Festival, in between we could just walk down to 9th avenue and have an enormous choice of food stalls to choose lunch from.

After the second show, the Pagan brothers, Tomas, Anna and I decided to try out some burlesque. A variety of sources had pointed us towards the Slipper Room, so that's where we went. We didn't arrive there till midnight, and it looked like it had only just started.

There are some pictures of what we saw there, but considering children might be following this blog, I won't post them.
It may be enough to say that Tomas expressed disappointment after the first half and said that if burlesque didn't seduce or shock him, it was rubbish. After the second half we all agreed it definitely wasn't rubbish.

I have never seen anything quite as vulgar, and I'd have to think hard to remember when I last laughed so hard my stomach ached.

Vocal warm-up

Because the Duke theatre has very strong air conditioning, playing there is quite hard on the voices. So the guys are now doing longer vocal warm-ups, and they look like this:

The NY subway

I saw these guys today. The video is not of very good quality because I took it with my phone. They were very good, though.