Blog 8

Tash’s Blog 8 – ‘You ask your neighbour round to eat, he’ll steal the shoes from off your feet…’ (Act 1 Finale)

Week 2 at the Birmingham Rep proved itself to be just as eventful as the first with plenty of outings and tomfoolery to speak of! It was nice for the ‘Threepenny Gang’ to relax slightly and have their days free to do some exploring of this fabulous city…whether that be a spot of shopping at the Bullring, having a nose around the incredible newly-refurbished Birmingham Library or sitting on a bus from your digs in Moseley and doing a full circuit of the bus route because you missed your city centre stop…I swear that wasn’t me!!!!?! Not quite so relaxing however for Jude (sign interpreter and Milton (Macheath) as they embarked on a week of daytime rehearsals for Graeae’s exciting next show with Brazil’s Circo Crescer e Viver ‘Belonging’ whilst doing ‘Threepenny Opera’ at night…exhausting!

There were several social events to speak of this week beginning with an impromptu trip to the ‘Tap & Spile’ pub on the canal following Tuesday’s post show discussion. With everybody on such good form this promptly inspired Amit (Graeae) to organise a ‘dual cast’ curry at ‘Imlees’ where Team ‘Threepenny’ were reunited with Team ‘Belonging’ for a fabulous feed! Thursday evening saw many of the gang take in some jazz at the ‘Yardbird’ followed by a boogie at Nightingales…where Ben (Jake) had so much fun, he just couldn’t bear to leave…cue Dani (Team Wardrobe) and CiCi (Polly) for immediate ‘intervention’! After all that, there was only room for one more social gathering…seeing in midnight for Stacey’s (Nellie’s) birthday and this was achieved in spectacular style complete with a ‘live’ 15 minute countdown (second by second I might add) from John (Narrator)…The Guinness Records Trust have been informed! In the midst of all this excitement, we were also introduced to artist Tom Jones (not the Welsh singer!) who had managed to beautifully capture many moments from the show in sketch form. It was incredible to see that he had managed to create a storyboard of the whole performance so accurately with such character while maintaining the essence of the piece…inspiring!

There was a distinct culinary theme this week in the world of John Kelly (Narrator) as he turned his attention to his other vocation as ‘sous chef’ for Drew (Team Sound) while creating his latest edible delight…an upside down pear and almond cake for Stacey’s birthday…yet another triumph from our ‘Threepenny’ bakers! This must have triggered John’s sweet tooth as he faced his ‘dilemma of the day’…whether or not to buy a life size chocolate sculpture of Lionel Richie’s head which was retailing online at £499.99…luckily it was offered with free shipping so perhaps that was enough to sway him! In other food related news, Stuart (DSM) almost delivered a lighting cue late on Saturday evening as he was happily sucking on a piece of phallic shaped confectionary…amazing!

It was an exciting week for Barbara (Betty) as she was acquainted with her brand new ‘orthopaedic’ whore sandals on Tuesday…so thrilled in fact that she managed to ‘accidenatally’ crash the cymbal, hit the woodblock and break the drum stool…all during the Act 3 Finale…genius! Meanwhile, continuing on a shoe theme…Sophie (Dolly) spotted her ‘whore-shoe twin’ tottering down New Street and Milton (Macheath) managed to put his fancy patent leather spats on the wrong feet at the top of Act 2…bless him! It was a spectacular wardrobe week for Stacey as she managed to play ‘The Ballad of Sexual Imperative’ with her hot pants undone and almost enter the stage for the top of Act 2 on Friday with no hot pants at all…thank goodness that’s the ‘whore house’ scene!…At least Jude (sign interpreter) was on top of all things wardrobe…being particularly meticulous with her laundry!

Top of the ‘show calamity’ list this week was mighty Max (Filch) who called Moby (CSM) during Saturday’s warm up to inform him that he was running a little late…to the surprise of Moby who hadn’t noticed that he was missing in the first place…brilliant! This followed Max’s epic ‘stackage’ in the Peachum/Whore scene on Monday where he managed to poetically trip over his own feet, landing on his face! CiCi attempted a spot of method acting on Tuesday where she attacked me (Lucy) with her curling tongs while Joey (MD) managed to walk Amelia (Jenny) into a wall…twice! At least there was good news for Will (Tiger Brown) on Saturday as he won the ‘Threepenny’ Grand National sweepstake…drinks are on you Will!

After a week where we saw TJ (Smith) bonding with an inflatable parrot and Sophie using the show to address her ‘phobia of placards’ I am pooped! So I bid you farewell until next week when I shall be reporting on our final week at the Rep…Bye!

#3popera #SaveTheILF #BecauseWeAreWorthIt

Natasha Lewis…aka…Lucy Brown.