Initial meeting with Sam Berger
A first meeting over the script at the Alma Tavern: what the play is really about, why its director must not be played as a stereotype, and keeping the fourth wall firmly in place.
Theatre West autumn season 2006 auditions
Hearing the script aloud for the first time at St Werburghs, then casting a six-strong rep company across five plays with Post-It notes, second choices and smiley faces.
The Inhabitants of the Moon are Noses and September's Salt'n'Sauce developments
An absurdist life of Gogol at the Alma, an abandoned read-through, a recast Emily, and an argument over whether Edinburgh's sauce belongs in a ketchup bottle or a vinegar one.
First rehearsal
First read-through in the Coopers' Loft: explaining the title, a set that loses its kitchenette, and the cast's first readings of John, Paul and Emily.
‘Is it a dark comedy?’
Marking the script for subject changes and finding they fall on its dramatic beats, then a Venue interview in the spitting rain that reached for a label: is it a dark comedy?
‘I mean to have you…’
An afternoon run at the Alma, doubts about whether an audience will follow it, and what a playwright should say and leave unsaid in someone else's rehearsal room.
Overture and Beginners
Watching a run from behind the tabs, a set that looks like Edinburgh stonework, and the dress rehearsal that finally convinced me the play works in performance.
‘Very symmetrical…’
Opening night: a Metro preview, a Quorn burger that nearly outlasted the curtain, 44 in a house of 50, and a feedback form that called the play very symmetrical.
Lightning updates
Two nights in brief: a thin house and a visit from the Evening Post, then three stars, a fuller room, and an Arthur's Seat scene that drew the biggest response.
Tumbleweed Night
The night the laughter flickered and would not catch: a near sell-out, a sleeping neighbour, and a closing scene whose jokes about restless audiences came true.
‘Whose play is it, anyway?’
Notes written for a creative writing essay: the script outlives its production, the director owns the rehearsal room, the actors the stage, and the audience every night.
Inside Out at The Alma
Written up for the Writernet Bulletin: a set theme I would normally resist, a play within a play that bungles its own lighting cue, and a ten-night run that became the season's hit.