December 2

6 filming days left and we should finish. Touch and go there for a while as 16 or so relatively smooth weeks finally came to an end. Donald's sister died, most likely of leukaemia, which took his partner Joyanne out of filming for a week and led to a serious program revamp. And then just when we thought it was all sorted, one of the lynchpins of the revised schedule turned up having shaved completely bald. He thought he had finished. A part timer whose first film this is. He's a well known boxer so one's disbelief was .......restrained .

But here we are a few days from finishing another marathon run...and funding for 6 looks pretty likely. There will be big discussions no doubt when we have our first post Love Patrol meeting. Is this how we want to spend half the year every year?

Anyway a brief post this whilst the crew move the ceiling of the police station round for a new angle. The rains have come, the air is humid, the police station low roofed and with the lights on it is unbelievably hot in there......

Week 14 or is it 15 or 16 and does it make any difference; it's still either an MCU or a wide shot.

My exhaustion is exhausted and I have opened a store with a nice range of one sided reading glasses.

Still nothing back from the robbery which proves god does not exist or that the klevas were not true believers.

We were filming a demonstration scene outside the courthouse; people waving banners demanding Tom's release were jostling with police when the real police turned up, 4 of them, and told us the Commissioner wanted us to stop filming; something to do with the uniforms and how we had to reapply to use them; after all this program is seen 'round the world' and the way we were wearing the uniforms could reflect badly on the Vanuatu police !!

A delegation is sent immediately to the Commissioner's house to get to the bottom of this while the rest of us calculate exactly how much re shooting this would mean and whether we'd finish filming next March or April. It turned out his main objection was that some of our extras whom we had chosen to be police were not clean shaven enough ( he had happened to be passing earlier). So it was sighs of relief all round, out with the razors and on with the show.

Anna from AusAID spent the morning with us filming her scenes as the doctor.We met her later in the week and she said she had been exhausted and wondered how we did it. It's good that project partners get first hand experience of the work we do and realise we're not bluffing!

Simon, our clapper board man, has not been with us for 2 weeks. His wife Helen, passed away. She had been sick for many a year with a poorly functioning lung. He had very few family in town; his wife's family are poor and had already had a death the week before. Helen passed away on the morning we were supposed to be filming at the hospital which in a way was fortunate. The group were there and basically took over the arrangements. The expense is so hard for people to deal with. The new corner of the cemetery that was opened up a year ago is a reminder in this week of the world reaching 7 billion, of how quickly our town is growing and how we'll have to find a new burial ground soon. Other parts of the yard at least have some sort of space between graves; here as you move in to throw soil on the coffin and make way for others to do likewise, you stumble over the corners of the burials of the past few days. Beru, our cameraman, was going to get Simon a makeshift cross that day, because, he said, if he didnt, there would be little hope of remembering exactly which Helen's grave was.

End of week 12.

A disaster of sorts. We opened LP4 midweek this time and had a much larger audience as we weren't competing with with Friday night fund raisers across town. It started badly (this is not the main disaster referred to above) when, as I was adjusting my parking in WSB, I didn't notice a taxi pulling in from the less used entrance side and bumped it. This old chief from the area got out and came up to me. It was actually a very funny moment. He was clutching his invitation to the event and said holding out the card, 'You invite me to your opening and then you bang my truck!' We both laughed and put our arms around each other and could see no damage in the dark. I did pass him in town the other day. I was walking along the road and he was in his truck in one of Vila's interminable jams. I called out to ask him how the truck was and he said 'ooh i bend i bend' and was moving forward before i could verify this!

No, the disaster was on return from what was a very well received showing of the opening 3 episodes of series 4. We return at 9.30- ish. The door is wide open. We go through and the back door has been rammed open with two logs. We subsequently find out that they had first ripped the TV satellite antennae plus the stake to which it was attached out of the ground and tried ramming the door with that. The neighbour had heard the noise but thought it was us!!!! Mmmmmn. Anyway, the film camera we had at the house overnight, all our laptops, Applemacs, and plenty of personal stuff all gone. Thankfully a drive with LP4 on it is still there (In case thieves you are reading this, Danny has a backup copy in Aus so don't bother coming back for it!). I'd like to believe that they were wannabe film makers and maybe in a year or two we'll be renting them our lights for their next masterpiece which they edit and colour grade on our stolen laptops. Given that the camera had no lense or CF card or batteries I sadly think that is not the case and it is probably on its way to Etas rubbish dump by now and the apple macs on their way to an outer island.

The group suspect that someone at the opening must have been in touch with the gang or at least there was general knowledge that we would be out at the opening that night. The irony is that episode 1 of LP4 starts with a couple coming home from a function to find their house totally trashed!!!

Certain group members sent a couple of guys round to pray in the backyard who confidently assured us that the stuff would be returned. This made me very angry, atheist that I am. I mean it suggests to me that they must have very good contacts with all the gangs and can clean up on the reward. But of course the belief is that God is all knowing and that someone will stumble upon the goods somewhere thanks to the wisdom of God...Two things here. That he should care about some white guy's gear that, inconvenient though the theft is, will mostly be replaced on insurance, strikes me as a little out of proportion to issues like world poverty that he must have to deal with. Secondly in a town of this size, some people will stumble upon stuff totally unassisted by God. I remember coming home in the car a few years ago after a walk in the hills and passing someone with my bike that had gone missing a week or two before. I stopped next to him and said I believed that it was my bike and he said 'Tru? Wan brata i givim long mi' I said providing i could take it home that was an end of the matter and he duly obliged.

As I say though the advantage of saying God leads to this discovery is that you can pop up and claim the reward for having prayed for its return in the first place.

That aside, filming has gone very well. We had to take a day off to rebuild the credits for LP4 that were on one of the drives that were stolen and also to make police reports, order a new back up camera etc but the group very bonded after this.

End of week 8.

Like a long walk we are entering the hardest part of the shoot. The sense of adventure has worn off, you've been going a while and you realise that there is still a hell of a long way to go. Everyone's behaviour becomes incredibly irritating; you become paranoid that everyone is deliberately challenging you, going slow. One's sense of proportion as to the importance of the film in the general flow of life is absurd ...I believe we are about to enter a double dip recession but far more important, is it going to rain today.

And others have real cause to worry; Donald's sister is back in hospital and some form of blood disorder/cancer seems likely. Pango village is tearing itself apart over a land dispute and actors from there report on various relatives who have been attacked; the police are patrolling the roads from time to time and there's a big meeting on Saturday.

Various locations have bitten the dust. Went to film in Tagabe last week and noticed that the set of flats where police officer Belinda has had her home for the past few series has been pulled down. In fact was still being pulled down as we tried to film in the store across the road.

This week's amusing moment? We're filming in a yard off Tagabe road and as often happens a passing bus slows down as they drive by to see whats going on.Of course they are always in the back of the angle you are trying to film. On this occasion the bus actually stops just as we roll and we start to make waving suggestions to the driver which is the politest way to say 'get the f*** out of our shot.' However the actor waiting to walk in to the yard on 'Action! is unaware of the bus behind him so every time we wave he moves a metre to the right and the bus stays put! You had to laugh! Self preservation!

Week 5 of LP5

I nearly wrote last week, in a similar vein to Zero Balance comments, that there wasn’t a lot to write about because it was all going so smoothly. And so I suppose it should, to some extent. This is our fourth straight year of LP; our fifth in six years; we have more gear, better cameras, we know the most frequent pitfalls and dangers and try to avoid them and yet…

So at the farewell for our visiting DOP, Chris, who did 4 weeks with us, Jo and the crew spring some news on me that they had been hiding all day. One of our new part timers whose first scene we had recorded at night the week before, has had to take up a last minute place on a training program in NZ. To their credit they had already found a replacement and recorded a demo tape for me to watch..and he was OK. Still, half a night shoot to re record some time.

Then, we’re packing up on Thursday and I am informed that a woman has been blinded by our HMI light (2.5 k). She was 60 metres away at the time and had collapsed saying she couldn’t see; she was already partially sighted in one eye. This could have been explosive but the community was almost apologetic. We took her to the hospital and there is probably more to it. She has very high blood pressure and may have reacted to the shock of seeing the light, which had made her faint. At the time of writing there has been no negative feedback from the community.

A more amusing occurrence. One mother in the same community had called the police to complain about her son who, she said, always got up late and never helped around the house. Urgent police business! A little later two of our actors emerged in police uniform on the nearby road ready for their next scene. Apparently this lad, as observed by our production team enjoying a tea break, shot out of his house and away through the settlement!

August 26th 2011. Filming has started.

The blog that went away! The play finished in another life time; finished well I believe. Full houses most of the time and many compliments although it was hard to keep up with day to day real political dramas!

Now we’re into Love Patrol season five and have completed a month of night shoots. We have new cameras; Cannon 5ds and prime lenses. The image looks gorgeous and what you can do with depth of field compared to the old JVCs is a daily delight!

Funny and not so funny moments:

We had a very good night shoot outside a store in Tagabe. 2 days later the peeling white frontage had been painted green and we have 2 day shoots still to go! So we will try and blast away some of the coat of green and repaint integrating earth as we go.

The schedule is all drawn up and we have been shooting for a week when one cast member announces she is 4 months pregnant and I have some scenes planned for when she would be 7 months …so more work on the schedule required.

There’s a lot of action in this series by our standards and I became frightened all the episodes were a little short so Jo’s been adding scenes and extending dialogue as we go which has been stressful for actors.

Lovely moment the other night whilst we’re waiting in the road in Tagabe for darkness to descend. A middle aged man comes up, shakes my hand and says ‘They must pay to visit the cave’. This is the line of the adviser to the chief from our 1994 film Pacific Star, a part presumably played by this gentleman. Some of the young members of the group most impressed by the heritage they are now part of!

That ‘fabric feeling ‘ was very strong when watching the youth hiphop group perform at the ceremony to mark Ausaid’s handing over of a million dollars to buy all the buildings we currently rent, thus securing the premises for youth for the coming decades. Some of them weren’t born when WSB started in 1989 and we were a 4 man gang doing plays about diarrhoea. Jo was next to me and we smiled at each other in that late middle age way of a ‘journey shared’ moment , trying to ignore the number of expletives in the song the kids were dancing to; looking too uncannily like recent pictures of masked rioters in London. But the energy of their dance seemed to give it such a positive vibe.

Ausaid also officially revealed our new gear transporting lorry with eye catching graphics.I must start putting photos on this blog.

May 28th

No disasters. Great reviews! See the Zero Balans facebook page. Packed Houses; well it is the school holidays! Safety officers would have a fit. We start off with rows of chairs and then when they're full and we still have a 100 outside, we ask people to move chairs forward and wedge another row in perched on the rostrum behind. We get in around 250 to 270. Wish we could raise the roof on the theatre. Still angry people outside who have come from 20 odd kilometres out of town who can't get in.

Our major battle internally has been to keep the laughter down. We had a great meeting the other day. As mentioned it got better briefly after my set of notes but in the last 2 shows it set in again. Various unnecessary ad libs and too much 'acting' in crowd scenes. Some lead actors were not happy and could feel that no one was listening to them and they were being upstaged by stuff going on around them. It's a fine line as some of the scenes are pure comedy. One much loved scene involves three community members all vying for the one chair in the ministers room to make their case to him for receiving 'funds'. And half of the long scene that makes up half the second act is again comic but once the news of the minister's dismissal by his colleagues becomes known to the community then the fawning stops and they turn on their MP. Done properly, the next 15 minutes are quite powerful and the cast can have the audience dead quiet but with ad libs and 'boo hiss' style crowd acting, the audience is let off the hook . Given that, in this section, the play suggests we shouldn't just blame politicians but look at our own actions towards them, we are making it far too comfortable a ride for them. All of this came out in the meeting; and last night we held the audience and wiped the smile off their faces.

The funny thing (well not funny at all really) is that as we struggle to keep the straight elements of the play straight so each day brings one new farcical revelation of the machinations of our MPs. It is as bad as I can remember it being in the days of the Swanson and Ghosh scandals. One youth leader who works for WSB said politicians were courting the youth he represents and they asked him how WSB dared to challenge the big men. Wise lad said he didn't work for that section of WSB.

The first week of shows.

A week into performances and the reception has been great. Full houses every night. Although there's full and full. Comfortable full and, on Saturdays, should- we -really -be -cramming -this many- people- in full. Rows of chairs are moved forwards so another set of people can perch on the edge of the rostrum behind. You begin to feel like a cattle herder at the market. But everyone is remarkably tolerant. We've also had our fire dancers on standby so they can put on a show for all those who can't get in even after the squashing up. We've had a glowing review in the paper and there's an active Zero Balance Facebook page.

The worst show was probably last Friday when crowd scenes in particular seemed to be a little OTT or if not OTT, the crowd members were acting so full bloodedly that the main action on stage was almost the sideshow. An ex actor from Canada, Dan McGarry, who lives here, reminded me of Stanislavski's comment after his troupe returned from tour, 'there will be a rehearsal on Tuesday to remove the improvements!' We tried to deal with these in notes on the Saturday and it seemed better as a result.

But it's never been less than OK and the audiences seem totally engaged. I would say we've had many more passages than in previous productions where the the audience has been listening intently with no strange laughter. This is not to damn the other productions. For those not familiar with a typical audience for these shows, they contain a smattering of babes in mothers' arms, a number of 5 to 1o year olds often on mats at the front; teenagers and upwards. So, so different from a western theatre going audience. To hold all of that audience is quite a task.

Anyone in Vanuatu reading this, we have auditions for Love Patrol series 5 at the theatre from 10am next Monday (23 May) and 24 May. We need all ages and all colours actually so maybe see you there?

29 April Lost!!

Hasn't been easy (yes at last!) Perhaps Easter Sunday was a pointer, Jo and I got lost in the bush. Was this a metaphor for a production...it was a walk we had done several times involving a shortcut back through a Forest ( represents a production that is ready to go); we make a slight detour ( rhythm of play derailed by too many public holidays and an opening date still a week away) and we are lost.

As we hadn't started the walk till three pm there was little chance of correcting ourselves and we emerged in the dusk from the forest to a plantation area we couldn't recognise. We keep walking but give up when I walk full tilt into a barbed wire fence we hadn't seen. So we follow the fence for five more minutes and then lie down for the night, first near a small river which, when bitten all over, we retreat from to hotel number 2 under a tree. We have half a bottle of water and no food and feel foolish.We also know that Emma our daughter at home will be very worried. Jo is quite cold; our clothes are damp as we had followed a river for a while. On the other hand she is quite relaxed whereas I am convinced this is my last night on earth! We speculate endlessly about the next day and console ourselves by looking up at the stupendous star filled sky. We're drifting off around 10, or pretending to, when Jo says she thinks she can hear someone calling our name. I am sceptical and don't shout back but there is the sound again and yes it is someone calling our name. Over the next half an hour torches get closer and finally shine a path across the stream so we can cross to them and there is Michael, our CEO, and several other WSB plus a lad who lives up in the bush. We are both ashamed and amazed. Emma had raised the alarm at 9pm. Beru and Ralph are in another party going down a river walk they know we do quite often and when we get to the rendezvous more trucks arrive including 3 VMF officers and several other WSB staff who tell us off so we feel like two naughty children. But it all very touching and heart warming and we agree to host a rescue party party this sunday! It's the least we can do.

So to the play which is spluttering a little. We brought Andy over from Aus to check out our lighting rig and some of it looks beautiful. Despite plotting it, we haven't had an official tech and run throughs have been bedevilled by lighting and sound blips. Family death and illness are occurring. Poor Donald has spent parts of the week running around trying to find blood donors for his sister who is undergoing various bone marrow and blood tests. Noel's big sister died on Pentecost but the family agreed he should stay in town and fly out later to attend the fifty day memorial. Some performances were ready weeks ago and are starting to go off the boil. Plus I am having doubts about my staging.

With motions of no confidence occurring every week and most politicians getting ever more shameless in their blatant disregard of the people, the play could not be more topical and could still be a winner. Tech tonight and previews for schools and families begin next week which hopefully will bring a sense of urgency and newness back to the work. I think I prefer the terror of 'Will it be ready?' to the terror of 'will it be over-ready?'

I’m sorry, no blog for two weeks and we’re at the run through stage already. Why I am sorry I don't know, as this must be one of the billions of unread blogs around the world.

But it has all been so smooth .Should this make us more worried? Of course there have been bad rehearsals; days when it doesn't work but I have thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. No major spats with cast members. Everybody seems excited by the play.  Some lovely performances.  And doubtless I am giving it the kiss of death by going on about how much fun it’s been

We are actually ready too soon although there will be more to do technically with this piece than previous plays and ‘crowd' members to put in when Health Force get back from tour.

In fact my main worry has been the amount of sweet drinks and gateau that the cast consume for breakfast! The nutrition centre has been putting on khumala bread and homemade non- sugar peanut butter which has stemmed the sweet drink flow a little.

What else has happened ? Oh yes Young Life  a band attached to our youth centre , have won an anti corruption  music  clip competition and are on their way to Nairobl to play which is a great boost for the youth centre. And Richard, an East 15 graduate with us for a year, has developed a fire dancing/breathing group who played their first wedding on Saturday . (Went well; they ended up teaching the groom how to breathe fire.) and they regularly entertain at the beach bar at Mele on a Friday night. The youth centre would appear to be a buzzy place right now.

Finally, I cant shake out of my head this image from the novel Shiloh by Shelby Foote  in which he describes a soldier in the battle of Shiloh being shot  as he comes over the top of a hill. He’s clearly dead but carries on running through  his own momentum down the hill before falling on  his face at the bottom. 

Tuesday 15 March

 

The day is greeted with rumours that a controversial MP has had a stroke. Here we are again! Just as 40 day dealt with police brutality as it was happening, now we have a play in which our central character, an MP, has a heart attack and is forced to justify his existence to Gods. Should we announce in the program that the play was written before the real life MP’s stroke???!

Then at lunch Beru says someone planning to stand in the next election, a member of the Vanuatu Mobile Force, says once elected he will make sure WSB is wiped out as he disapproves of much that we do. I always feel confused with stories like this. The brave part of me says well we must be doing something right to evoke such strong feelings in a presumably fairly reactionary body. The other part feels hurt that anyone could dislike you so intensely!

Day 2 of rehearsals and it is the phase that makes me the most nervous. That vision you have of the piece in your head is a million miles away as people struggle with lines and finding their character and actors work at such different speeds; some presenting a character before your eyes very early on, others looking completely lost or worse still, bored. There is also the fear that the vision you have is wrong for the piece; the theatre, empty, seems huge and the actors tiny and thin voiced. As we allow space for audience on the floor you also feel you are watching it across a chasm that makes it even harder to engage.

Also depressed by the number of actors drinking coke and eating gateau huite for breakfast…but buoyed by those coming back early from lunch to run the scene on their own to get it right. Most of the actors love the chance to do the big production

10 March 2011

Just come back from a great show of the new sexual harrassment play at Central School. I think we have a winner here. The teacher has asked us to come back to do each year group and we're following it up with a workshop.

We start the show with a quick agree /disagree as a 'marker' of audience opinion. Students are asked to go to an agree sign or a disagree sign regarding the statement 'Parents should not allow daughters the same freedoms they give to boys.' So far the whole audience crosses over with 100 percent of the girls disagreeing and 100 percent of boys agreeing.

It's a while since I've been into the schools and the differences are vast. One newish school was a boiling hot room, no fans, very low tin roof and a cement factory rattling on outside the window. The other schools although not palatial were more condusive to learning.Yet looking at the grades on the wall at the newer school, there were some who had done quite well. I couldn't last 5 minutes in the classroom I saw. We took the class outside for the show which meant that practically every other class seemed to spill out to watch the piece too.

Nearly ready to start this year's big play..about politics...good timing, what with a minister deciding it's OK to bash up newspaper owners. The town waits to see whether the PM or the police will do anything about it.

Half the cast still stuck on outer islands running workshops and showing our films in remote villages. One also injured her back when caught under a speed boat whilst pulling it to shore. Am planning to make some banana bread and buy some fruit and start the first day of rehearsal with a nice breakfast and read through! Hopefully that will lessen resentment about coming straight into work after 2 and half weeks away! But we have only 6 weeks to opening night.

Sadly, my head is full of rape and incest. We have completed a week of interviews and 75 % -at least - have been stories that end in violent abuse. Some harrowing tales. Some thanking the interviewer for allowing them a chance to tell of an experience they have not been able to tell for many years. One girl said that she had not told her parents of a narrow escape she had had because she knew if she did, they would stop her going out.

This is the difficulty; there is, as mentioned in the first post, little point in putting out a total tale of woe; what does it achieve? so we have latched on to a story that one of the actors told , as we discussed the interviews, from his own life and his struggle to stay engaged with his own teenage daughter. He told of how his daughter was sitting plaiting the hair of a boy in their yard. Grandparents were shocked; inviting a boy they did not know, into their yard; how could the father allow his daughter such freedom? He must put a stop to it!

When the boy left he asked his daughter who he was .'...a friend ,Daddy', she said and walked away. The actor said he couldn't ask anything else because if he got heavy, she would be cross and become distant so that maybe when she really did need to be able to talk to him , she wouldn't feel free to do so. And that has become the superstructure of the piece as I write; how do parents and daughters keep communication lines open and remain safe but free in a town which if the interviews are to be believed girls have little protection even, on occasions, in the presence of pastors, teachers and uncles who should provide it.

Well trying to blog again. LP 4 finished 20 weeks of filming in December. LP3 finished viewing late December and seems to have been the most popular to date. As I acted in it quite a bit I  finally know what it's like to be a recognised face in the street. Everyone has stories about LP. One evening late December I was walking the dog at the top of the hill and on my way back to the car. Three gentlemen looked at me quite seriously and said CID are looking for you. I thought maybe they'd been to the house and someone had told them I was out walking so I was a little nervous, wondering what I'd done wrong. Then they all start laughing and the penny drops; they're referring to Harry the character I play in Love Patrol.

So now its back to community oriented stage work. 12 of the group are researching a piece on Sexual Harrassment. When you look at figures for inmates at correctional services, sexual offences far outnumber all others. A recent survey of attitudes by Chris King for Correctional services highlighted many beliefs that might contribute to this;  beliefs about the way women dress; about women who go to nightclubs being therefore available for sex etc. So we've started with a week of discussing our own attitudes and things we might be ashamed of in our past. Now the actors are out recording anonymous interviews as we try a 'verbatim theatre' approach  to the topic. We hope to end up with several little playlets, some of which might be interactive and open to forum work.  One issue in trying this approach out for ourselves with stories the actors have provided, is that all of them have ended in rape. Yet whilst no one in the group would put up their hand to say they had raped someone, all, all of us  males at any rate, admitted to having committed  some form of sexual harrassment. If all the plays end up as rape then is it easier for an audience, though feeling sorry for what they have witnessed , not to see themselves as challenged? Hopefully some of these questions will become clearer in the next week or two.

In March we start work on Jo's latest 2 hour script which will be looking at politics; not only the misuse of power by politicians but also the community's role in indulging politicians misuses of power. Beru has built a beautiful bamboo screen backdrop in anticipation of this piece. I was keen to avoid calico backdrops for something more flexible; bamboo can suggest local housing for a village or a sort of plush background for a restaurant or meeting room. Plus it just looks nice!

29 March

Back from UK at 12.30 am and in the morning straight into emotional decision time as the group have decided that XXXX should finish from everything. 40 dei. Love Patrol. Everything. I am so sorry. I wouldn’t have voted that way myself but I do understand why they have done this. He was locked up overnight for being drunk and disorderly early in the shoot last year. Then locked up towards the end of the shoot and held for two months on rape charges. Charges dropped eventually but not before the group had had to face endless comments about WSB behaviour from the of course angelic community who never do anything bad. The final straw for the group was probably that, he has been seen by many people drunk in town. But he is so talented and it is very sad. My qualms are that this is a turning point.WSB recruits a lot of at risk people. At what point do we say we can do no more? The rape charge just led to the group receiving so much recrimination, even though he was in the end not guilty. I suppose they feared for their own jobs and felt they too were being accused.

On a brighter note, the new staging looks potentially exciting. In the round , based around three small playing areas connected by walkways.

XXXX came to the house distraught and in tears. Always those mixed feelings; his despair is genuine but sadly  although he could find  reasons for getting drunk he could not see how idiotic a thing it was to do after the recent publicity and  when his job was on the line. He cannot blame himself.

30 March

Jo feels she cannot just write XXXX's part in Love Patrol out with one line ‘Bye bye I’m going fruit picking in NZ’ so we meet with the group to come to a compromise which they accepted with good grace. His story line by the end of series 4 will be at a point where he could be left out of series 5 if there is one. ..or continued if he can get back on track. We ring him to tell him. Hard to tell if he was pleased or not. Good rehearsal on 40 Dei though. Danny will be different from XXXX but he is a good actor and reviving it with a completely different staging gives everyone something new.

31 March

A big general audition as we search for the new XXXX. Another young male actor has also left because he felt too much of  what WSB did workwise was in conflict with his religious beliefs. No comment!!! So quite a talent gap in the young man area to fill.

We had 94, mostly young, men and women come to the audition. All unemployed. By the end of the day we had whittled it down to a shortlist of 19. Initially we were only going to take 3 men for 40 dei but the energy and talent on show meant that we revisited the budget and reduced the part time wages we were gong to pay in order to give more youth the opportunity. Depending on tomorrows audition we can take 7 youth, mostly men as that is where we are short on numbers for 40 dei. One feels a mixture of happiness that one can offer these young people something that they wont find in most jobs open to them and also sadness that so many youth have nothing to do in their lives.

 1 April

As we suspected the promise of the previous day was not totally in place by the end of the second day’s audition. The first day’s pieces we gave them were both short monologues directed out at us and the second piece in particular was a bit of clowning that they all seized on. Today we gave them a more emotionally charged piece to act in pairs and they came over a bit rawer but nonetheless the overall level of the shortlist was higher than many I can recall, even if it seems less likely it contains another XXXX. As if to taunt me with this, I am eating lunch with Mike in the nutrition centre when a clearly hungover, still slightly drunk XXXX comes up to me. We had planned to hold a farewell lunch for him but had run out of time and it had been postponed. He had come to tell me he would come to any lunch Jo or I organized but not one organized by the group. 

The group was gracious enough to agree to Jo’s writing request to keep him in series 4 which gave him a lifeline and now he is spitting on them. He wanted to see Jo so I told him to go to the house but he never appeared. Titus was going to try and find him and prevent him from going on an Easter bender that would seal his fate forever with the group. 

I swing between anger and tears. He is so talented and yet seems lost to us at the moment . I feel responsible as I was the one who first met XXXX as a bouncy out of school 15 year old when he came down to the centre looking for work 7 years ago. He took Jo and I to meet the gang of lads he hung out with and whose antics he feared he was increasingly being drawn towards if he couldn’t find work. I will never forget the night we sat talking to those 20 odd lads about their lives. It was the night that gave us the inspiration for  Solid Sistas, which was XXXX's debut show. For the next 6 and a half years he proved to be one of the most electric actors ever to have worked for the group. Maybe it’s a classic case of fame at a young age leading to ruin. Could we have done more for him? Can we still reach him? Anyone reading this who has  any ideas, please contact me. However much society is frowning on him now, he has given a lot of pleasure through plays and film to a lot of people in this country. He needs our help as much as our censure.

 

 

2010

Sorry I didn’t do very well over the film. As I argued at the time, the actual hours worked on a film meant that very little energy was left for blogging.

So here we are in Feb 2010 and we have plenty to keep us entertained. One of our actors towards the end of filming Love Patrol was arrested on rape charges. This has been a source of great shame and various other emotions for the rest of the group. He has pleaded not guilty and today 17 Feb, on the first day of his trial, it appears that the girl in question has married and is on East Malekula and she doesn’t want to come to the trial. The police are having one last go at persuading her to come or if she doesn’t, the case will be dismissed. Personally I would prefer it if she came and then if he is found not guilty he has at least proved it in court. Her absence will be interpreted one of two ways , either she knows it wasn’t rape and doesn’t want the shame of that coming out in court or she can’t face having to go through it again in public. The police say a lot of cases collapse becasue of no-shows by the girl.On the other hand all the police witnesses have been dismissed by the judge as not very useful. It's his story against hers

Guilty or not, the group is divided; should we have him back? Should we assist him in his legal fees ? They are tired of the public asking them about him or blaming the whole group ‘you say we shouldn’t do this and that but then look at your own actor ' as if somehow we are all responsible.

Whatever, he has a very bad drink problem and we have been warning him forever about where it will lead him. Some feel this is the shock he needs and given that he is such a good actor we must give him another chance; after all he came to us aged 15 with no future and unleashed this amazing talent on the community. Maybe we should have tried to mentor him more through his giddy rise as one of the group's stars.Would it have made any difference? 'Who cares?' says another as we debate the issue for the nth time, 'if he's a rapist I dont want anything to do with him.' Even if he is, will prison do him any good? At least if he goes to prison, the decision is made for us. If he's not guilty some still don't want him back because he's broken our own internal codes so often. Others would take him back for the revival of 40 Dei, some say they want to see evidence he can overcome his drink problem first and will only work with him on Love Patrol 4. Yes oh joy we now have funding for series 4.

For the last 3 weeks we have been working on a new project around the Family Protection Act; this became law over a year ago and is beginning to be implemented. The improvised play explores the role of the new ‘authorised person’ This person will receive training in the provisions of the act and have power to implement temporary Restraining Orders on the spot if s/he feels one partner in a relationship is in danger from violence. For the play the group has devised two story lines around a framework in which first of all we see events through the man’s eyes with a man also taking the part of his wife and then the woman acts her side of the story with a woman playing the part of her husband. Both stories also end with the authorized person being called in. S/he explains the powers and different restraining orders that the AP has and asks the audience to decide which one to use; they range from just telling them to live peacefully together to letting the complainant go and live with her family for 14 days or asking the defendant to leave the house for a similar amount of time. In both cases the defendant is not allowed to go near the complainant. When the audience has decided what measure to use, the AP goes back to the complainant and asks if she’s happy with that; when s/he is, then the AP serves the order on the defendant who sometimes objects and then we see the consequences played out in the relationship through a number of role plays. The first program was this morning and it went well. The audience seemed very keen to see how their recommendations played out. Hopefully as the actors gain confidence they could actually ask the audience to serve the orders. One thing that is lacking is a role play after the end of the order suggesting that the defendant has actually learnt something from it and refrains from violence. Not a picture of perfect bliss but perhaps a violent free one. We have much fun with his objections to the order and attempts to subvert it (ie sending messages through family members) but we need to end it positively!

The whole program is rounded off with some further discussion about whether the act is simply encouraging divorce ( a popularly held belief). There's also the issue of the permissability of 'smacking' your children as the act also covers kids...good Daily Mail territory. This was one of the reasons the president cited in initially refusing to sign the bill.

We close with a dramatization of a poem by the late Grace Molisa, one of the founders of the Vanuatu womens movement. The poem takes the list of domestic violence injuries recorded at the hospital over a 6 months period and delivers it verbatim in short lines of verse.

End of week 9

Still going well, if exhausting. TV station stuffed up the opening of LP2. Apparently the guy on duty never turned up so it never came out at 7.30. Some body else pitched up at 9.00pm or so and put it on around 9.45  but the picture slipped up and down or something. We wrote a v strong letter to the TV asking why, given this is the only TV drama series produced across the whole Pacific we couldn’t be given a little bit of respect in our home country; after all half the region is waiting on this series. To their credit they completely agreed and so we’re trying again this weekend. Given the level of exhaustion this business causes, it was a bit depressing to see the finished product treated so shambolically.

About 6 of us down with tooth problems this week. Quite weird how it hit us all at once. Felt sorriest for Neri who had a load of love scenes to play this week. I too know that I need a rootcanal thingie. Can’t have anything touching my backtooth without wanting to scream. And I have a major acting week next week.

Missed a shot at 6 am during the week because an actor’s alarm clock failed…so he says!! You feel like some sort of demented sergeant major when you need those early morning shots before the sun gets too high. You spill out of the car at the run as you reach the set, yelling ‘Ok camera, reflectors please; Amanda, Kalo, day 1 costumes, we’ve got 20 minutes to get this shot, sound , you ready? ; Where is Amanda? Bloody hell. Production manager please ring…. What we haven’t got Kalo’s day 1 costume? Why not? My god you want to be filming on Christmas day? Come on this is ludicrous.’

Meanwhile sane people are waking up in the settlement all around you, pottering down the road to buy bread or brush teeth at the standpipe, quite used (I hope!) by now (it is series three) to this insane man yelling up and down the road for 4 months of the year. The scariest feeling about film is how you really do get everything so out of proportion and arrogantly feel that this is the most important thing that must happen NOW.

Rules of WSB films

 Golden sod’s laws of making Wan Smolbag movies:

 If you require a door to stay locked it will always open

If you require it to open, it never will.

In both the above cases the door handles will fall off at least once.

If you use a car it will:

Never start, at least not when you need it for a dramatic fast entry or exit.

At least one window will either never wind up or down: obviously it will not do the one you want it to

If you require it go down hill or stop suddenly, it will have faulty breaks.

You will be half way through filming the scenes you need it for when the owner will sell it.

The car door you need to open never will or it doesn’t have a handle.

Some major construction job will ALWAYS start near your main locations, the day before shooting is due to begin. Failing this, a church crusade will blast out the moment you yell action.

 

To be added to: my mind has gone blank but there are hundreds. 

Love Patrol

The end of week 7.

 Yes I know. 7 weeks in before a single post on Love Patrol, series 3. This is the result of one of the fundamental differences between film and theatre .To make a film I get up at 5 am and  I am on set by 6am, starting shooting  from 6.20 if we’re outdoors (and the actors are on time and we’ve got all the right costumes and props) to 8.00am if there’s a complicated lighting set up and often catching those late afternoon shots around 4.30…unless of course it’s a night shoot, which can go from 4.30 pm to anywhere between 12 and 2 am. And as this is a 10 part series we are filming for 4 months on about a tenth of the budget such a series would cost in Aus, UK etc. There are no trailers for actors, no trailers /caravans for anything. Just a small tent, hosts of costumes in carrier bags and a mini bus on hire for duration of the film. So, a series of reflections not necessarily in chronological order which I’ve thought, as we film, it would be good to go on the blog.

Overall to date: a much happier experience than series 2 . That one was beset by chaos. Continuity and costume nightmares; the worst not found till we started editing and one character was in one costume on one angle and in another on the reverse shot a week later. By the time we found it, we had struck the police station set we build in the theatre for the series; we had to rebuild some of it to re shoot. We were also beset by internal issues, maybe partly caused by tiredness (an insane number of nightshoots) but still they had to be dealt with; domestic violence issues within the company and ensuing suspensions…oh the list is endless. Whereas, we really seem to be getting on well in this one.

And the opening of series 2 a week ago was so well received that you finally understand why you do this. In fact despite tiredness Jo and I attended both public showings prior to the TV launch. Unlike theatre where the most important element, the audience give their verdict relatively quickly, with film it can take up to a year and, given that we have started the masochistic experience of series 3 before 2 was released, to see an audience be moved and laugh and say it is a big improvement on series one, suddenly made the awful tiredness and stress worthwhile.

The Wire! Both Danny Phillips, our Australian-American DOP and I have become addicted to this extraordinary TV series whilst we film. Danny lives with us for 5 months of the year when we have an LP series up. So despite our comparative collective lack of experience, money and equipment, we find ourselves saying all the time, you know that shot in The Wire when………….’ Jo too is now hooked and we watch it together on the laptop at night and weekends although Jo must spend at least 10 mins of every episode in the toilet, where she retreats whenever it looks like something grisly is going to happen!

40 Dei - The next 4 shows

Not a really bad show yet although the second half last night was the nearest we’ve come to it. Wasn’t entirely the actors fault. Audiences in the main have been so appreciative. The preshow tannoy announcement about what is expected has helped, as has the fact that it is a genuinely powerful show at times and people really want to listen. So everyone has followed the plea to control laughter so others can hear. The only time this doesn’t work is if you get latecomers whom you wish had heard the announcement. This is what happened last night. After about 30 minutes a family of two young teenage girls, two pre teen kids a baby and a mother and father sat right in the front perched on the rostra, the last remaining spaces. One of the teen girls in particular had this awful cackle, which she applied to everything - actors weeping, prisoners being beaten. The only consolation was that it clearly pissed off the rest of the audience. I think the mother picked up on this vibe because towards the end she leant across to talk to her daughter and the girl went quieter after that.

The best show was this Wednesday. It was thrilling. It seemed to be coming from somewhere very deep. I will always remember Albert’s howl of anguish when he is drunk after learning that Lei will marry the politician. He’d never done it before…I love that when, during a run, the actors seem to surprise themselves into some totally new feeling. But what made the evening even more special was that it was nearly ruined by power failure. We had a couple of cuts but the security on the meter pushed reset almost immediately and then at the start of the final prison encounter between the pastor and Matthew the final failure occurs and we cannot get the power to start up. The audience didn’t want to leave. They got out their mobile phones and tried to give us enough light that way. I tried to shine a torch at it but the torch too kept cutting out. Finally after 10 minutes the power came back and the audience resumed total concentration till the end. Afterwards many people were coming up and saying that it was WSB’s best ever show.

During the day the group has been reviving two old pieces for the theatre festival. On the Reef and Shame and Ignorance. On the Reef with redesigned puppets from Ken Evans formerly of Handspan theatre in Melbourne who designed the original production in 1993!!

They arrived yesterday and the actors were thrilled. A new cast of younger actors, most of whom would have been about 4 or 5 when the original production was made. Still one of Jo’s best short plays I think.

40 Dei - 29 April opening night

Needn’t have worried. The place was full which means there’ll probably be ugly scenes on Friday and Saturday with people being turned away; will probably have to switch to pre sale. And it was one of the best nights in our history. So many of the cast with heavy colds too which made it even more extraordinary. Several of the cast gave their best ever performance. One mishap. Vero had got this new costume for her little cameo as the devil. I cringed when I saw it - black hood and cape. Like something out of Transylvania. When she came on stage though, complete with dark lipstick it looked fantastic. She climbed up on the stacked up benches for the verse in the song where she tempts Jesus to jump from a high place. She looked amazing up there. Jesus pushes her off ....and she lands and twists her knee and hobbles off. Such a shame , ‘cos she’d had a brilliant idea with the costume. Jesus, played by a woman is, naturally, dressed all in white. Devil black . Jesus white. Ngugi wa Thiongo and Frantz Fanon would kill me. All the actors idea though.

Came to work this morning and within 20 minutes I fielded two calls asking for tickets. OK so doesnt sound a lot but quite an unusual event here at WSB for someone to ring in about a show. So i guess that's it, folks, I have fulfilled my mandate and done a blog up to opening night!

I suppose it makes up for the diary I stopped keeping several years ago. I may keep it up for interesting events during the run and the international theatre Festival coming up in June. Then start a new one as we go into rehearsals for Love Patrol 3, our TV series.

40 Dei - 28 April

Having not been nervous, or especially so, for any of the previews, I am desolidfying as assorted High Commissioners, MPs, Donors and NGO partners file into the theatre. In the end, to my shame, I huddle in a corner of the lighting box peeking from time to time over Beru’s shoulder at the action. Why can I not take these openings? My claim is that having been an actor in my youth this is the worst moment for a director. At least as an actor you have an outlet for your adrenalin.

Everything technical that could go wrong did - washing line got stuck on stage, slight feedback from the mikes, Albert dropped his whisky bottle so there was a big puddle of cold tea on the floor for the last 20 minutes.. Actors skipped the odd speech. Sadly for Donald this jumped over his big speech in the prison scene but he took it very well and the audience….loved it! Met someone in the store today who said he’d planned to leave at the interval but stayed on. I told him public shows started tonight and he got on the mobile to his boss to tell him to go.

Not sure on our publicity for tonight onwards. Posters go up and seem to get taken down quite quickly. Apparently TV has been running out of snyc for a week or so, so the TV ad is probably unintelligible!

40 Dei - Previews Wed to Friday

They seemed to go well. Very well. But it is always a hard transition. The good run through in the empty theatre is one thing; the free previews with crying babies, 5-8 year olds who don’t really understand anything and are bored except for the singing and the drunken fights; the unruly elements of the youth centre - these are a very different experience! In fact one of the proofs that it must be OK is that for great portions of the play most of the youth too listened intently. And there is the coming and going, the late comers, those who wander out, come back in; the ushers, who insist on bringing in latecomers in the middle of a very intense scene. A world away from western ‘theatres’. Occasionally I wish it was a bit more like that and then I sit through something like the terribly worthy Major Barbara or the dreadful, but much beloved by most, Coram Boy, both at the UK National theatre and you hanker for this come one come all theatre we have here. Although even the actors are discussing whether we couldn’t offer the little kiddies a free movie show in one of our other spaces! But you know when you manage to hold two thirds of the audiences attention in this atmosphere that you’ve really achieved something and the feedback has been great. AusAID fund a social program with churches here and three people involved, 2 local and one Australian, came to the show. We were a little apprehensive, would we be castigated before we’d even opened? They were friendly and said they had to leave early so when they did, we shouldn’t take it as a protest. I watched them as much as the show! They appeared to be enjoying it hugely. Brian the Australian rang the next day to say they had talked of nothing else, how much they had enjoyed it and word had been spread through the Presbyterian church and they were encouraging all church members to go. The only slight fear I have is that they left before the more controversial scenes about political and church cronyism, attitude to prisoners etc.

Another awkward moment with the washing line, which could have seriously damaged both runners on . Vero runs on carrying it shoulder high; I don’t know how she’d coiled it up before the show but she runs four paces and stops, startled, as half of it seems coiled round her neck. She slips out from under it and crosses the stage but perhaps the incident led to loss of concentration because she forgets to leave it at floor level until the other line holder has crossed over it. Joyce thankfully converts into a high jump specialist and jumps over Vero’s line a milli -second before it would have served as the perfect trip wire and sent her flying into the audience.

Charlie rings on Thursday to say his Dad may be on the way out; he seems to have had a minor stroke overnight and so if we want to see him we should probably come quickly. We go to Charlie’s house. Enos, his father, is sitting up in bed. He can’t control the movement in his left arm and hand, which keeps closing involuntarily. But for a man whose kidneys have packed up, whose wife died a week and a half ago, and knows he too is waiting for the end, he was very lucid, amusing and alert. Jo and I sat there with him, with Charlie and sister, and talked of so many things. Apparently tree ringworm, which we are beset with at home, is best cured by pissing on the tree; would Jo and I go into a business venture with Charlie to start an oil mill on his land? The virtues of Weightwatchers and pedometers. Land disputes on Malo. But often back to his wish for us to have a joint land/business venture with Charlie; a man trying to put his affairs in order at the end.

40 Dei - Tuesday 21 April

Still tinkering in the theatre. We meet at 4.30 notes at 5. Youth clubs occupying most rooms so we meet in this small changing room at the back.. all 25 of us.

Feels good. Everyone focussed, wanting notes, trying to resolve technical problems together regarding microphones and scene changes.

Tonight’s preview is for families of the cast. Not that full at first but two thirds or so by the interval. Hopeless start. I give Beru the nod. He dims the houselights and no one comes on. Try again I say so he puts the houselights up and as he does so, Albert comes on. Cleverly he pretends to be looking for a prop near the band area. I am fffing and blinding by now. We start again. Blackout. Beru brings up the wrong lighting cue and so now we have actors standing in darkness. Straight out of Michael Frayn’s play Noises Off! That great moment when in the film version Michael Caine the director walks back stage and says What the f*** is going on? as stage management give the three minute call followed by the minute call followed by the five minute call.

But from then on it is magic. OK some mistakes but the audience really attentive and I hear all around me the comment ‘Ple ia I tough tumas’ which for Vanuatu is the equivalent of a 5 star rating in the Guardian! A girl who was one of the first to come to the youth centre when it opened four years ago said to Jo afterwards. ‘I am a young person. This play speaks to me. It’s perfect.’ Only 3 more previews and 20 performances to go!

40 Dei - Mon 20 April

We film some bits for a TV ad. Joyanne’s grandfather has died. So she is not there. Titus is having his dentures fitted! We do notes. Am very blunt. Too blunt. Did not mean to make actors feel guilty for making me miserable but that is how it came out. But some good notes too, which actors responded to well. Titus returns full of teeth and no lisp! This buoys the actors as much as anything. Good rehearsal with him and Albert of the final prison scene. Really trying to identify their state of mind and playing it much stiller. And then we turn the scene where Albert and Virana have a possible final chance to get together into one long sad embrace. It’s a big night for Virana especially as she has not seemed to be with us for a while and it is tempting to let Joyanne alone play the part of Lei. I know Virana can do it but she has trouble unlocking emotion on stage.

Everyone takes the afternoon off. Six o’clock and we’re all nervous and there’s not even an audience. Just us and our pride. Virana starts dreadfully, forgetting lines and then the first big song is fluffed. But something is there, I’m not despairing yet. Titus is a different person with his new teeth. Danny and Donald seem to have found renewed vitality in their scenes. Albert is flying, wonderful actor. Morinda as solid as ever. Oh dear! Virana has completely dried and is mortified. But it’s going OK and we hit the big emotional scene between the Pastor and Lei. I don’t know whether it is the accumulated mortification of forgetting lines or Titus’ great performance, but Virana’s jaw starts quivering with sadness and injustice and mine too is quivering, with relief mostly. It’s beautiful to watch…. her jaw not mine! And the first half (is this football or a drama?!) plays out beautifully.

The second half is immense but best of all is the minute after the curtain call. During the curtain call the actors exit singing and then the music stops. The building is completely quiet and slowly the actors filter back on to the stage. Nobody says a word. Everyone seems to be taking in how good that was, wanting to savour it. Some embrace on the stage. Tomorrow is the first preview.

40 Dei - Weekend

So another weekend of misery! Even the bush walks we do every weekend are full of long private silences interspersed with soul searching…why has it gone wrong..has it gone wrong? Pathetic. Only really at home when we go to the theatre where Beru and a few helpers are working to get the theatre ready. Actually there was a beautiful moment on the Sunday walk. We passed a banyan mid morning and a cloud of flying fox, at least a 100, flew above us before settling back down in the tree, hanging upside down. And there was the BBC radio doco from Liberia about peace building which had the most awful account of a massacre in a church told by a survivor which helped put our little play issues in perspective. The effect of this is short lived; for better or worse our reality is this theatre group in Vanuatu; no, the thought of the play being a disaster is not a big deal but in our little world it is! We long for the Monday, for the chance to know if it can come back. Run over my notes and have ideas for making two scenes much more intense and passionate. Why has this not struck me before?

40 Dei - Friday 17 April

Alpha Blondy played for 2 hours starting at 10.30!!but the damage was done to several cast members. I feel especially bitter towards one or two who turned up an hour late. We had compromised on our technical rehearsal the day before to accommodate them but they could not return the favour. Another person is constantly turning up late now. I say before we start the run through that you now also have to overcome my mood. ‘You expect me to watch it positively when I’ve just spent one hour worrying where people are?’ The first half was good..ish and the second half a pile of rubbish. I don’t do notes but try the short quiet voiced cliché this time. ‘When you are 65 will you look back and say I’m glad I stayed out all night/didn’t check the script/drank kava till dawn/couldn’t be bothered to get to work on time/didn’t warm up/didn’t focus and produced an average play or.. I made this my top priority for a couple of months and produced a show the like of which Vanuatu had never seen?’ From my great age it just makes me angry to see this very gifted group just piss it away. But then again it is also an indictment of me that I cannot instill this in the cast. Or is it because I have the luxury of making it my main focus for various reasons which is harder for the group? Whatever, I am filled with a numbness now. This won’t be as good as I thought it might have been….but then it never is, is it? The production you see in your head is never quite fulfilled.

One last run through on Monday and then we go to previews for family of cast and other wan smolbag staff families.

40 Dei - Thursday April 16th

Sure enough 4 or 5 of the lads can talk of nothing else but Alpha Blondy’s visit. But most of the cast not interested as the tickets cost 55 dollars at least a week’s grocery budget for some people or as one cast member put it , that’s a 25 kilo bag of rice. So we agree to start at 3.30. It’s overcast and we should still be able to make the theatre dark. Richard, our East 15 intern, is seen standing on the side of the road with posters flagging buses down and in very broken Bislama asking them to put posters for the show in their back windows. Soon they’re queueing up for them, one bus even offering him women to marry and stay in Vanuatu. Some discussion about why we have reduced ticket price from 100 vt to 50vt.It’s because the bus fare has increased to 150 vt from 100 so it makes it quite an expensive night out for a family. But compared to the 4000 vt for the Alpha Blondy concert, it’s pretty good value and some cast think it looks like we don’t value our show. But our remit is to make sure our work is available to the maximum number of ‘grassroots’ level people. But what if we’re always having to turn people away? Let’s just get the show on first!

The tech goes very smoothly. Have one brainwave. Seemed to be a bit comic that after the brutal scene with the escaped prisoners, we go to a blackout and every one jumps up and scuttles out. So instead we keep them frozen there and the actors from the next scene, Lei in full wedding dress awaiting her arranged marriage to the MP, take up position in the blackout light. When settled the police prisoners and chorus walk off gracefully in the cold blue of the black out light and the lights come on.

8.54pm Texts from friends at the Alpha Blondy concert: he hasn’t come on yet because the power companies weren’t expecting him tonight and there’s not enough power for the concert yet

40 Dei - Wednesday April 15th

So have my pre Easter cliches borne fruit? Will a play appear out of the fog of kava and alcohol of the Easter holiday? All will be revealed today. Except it wasn’t. By 9.30 am all actors edgily assembled, bar Albert. No word from him. 3 public health students from Sydney on holiday have asked if they can watch a run through as they’ve heard about WSB on their course. Still no Albert. His mobile is off. We track him down to the maternity ward where he is sleeping at the moment as his wife and child are still there. He has a bad cold and a sore throat. Fantastic. Everyone cross he couldn’t come and tell us or ring. So instead we salvage something by doing a non SDA actor rehearsal of chorus and song to check we can cover. This has caused disputes since day 1 of WSB. Is it fair that SDA actors never have to act Fridays but actors belonging to other churches will do Sundays if necessary? No disputes this time. Danny volunteers to take over the little cameo of Jesus in one of the songs which causes great mirth as he is one of the group’s biggest rascals (Sorry, Danny, is loveable rogue better?). In fact he does it very well. And we agree that tomorrow will be the tech rehearsal so Albert doesn’t have to use his voice for 48 hours. All seems well and then we get home and the rumour that Alpha Blondy was about to hit town is proved to be true as there he is, his voice coming out of my radio on FM107. He is performing on Thursday night. I know that several actors will be desperate to go. How, you ask, did I not know that he was coming? Well you had better ask the promoters. There are no posters, nothing. Just a rumour that he is coming. It has been said before that big names in reggae and zouk music are coming and it has not happened. Anyway it all means further discussions in the morning. We’ve also blown a further hole in the budget because we have to get an electric drum kit. The seats are just too close to handle a full acoustic drum kit. And we won’t have run the play for a week and a half at least by the time we get round to it. All the ingredients for insomnia which duly ensues…but look, peter, you can do nothing about it now just close your eyes and…bloody alpha blondy, then you’ll be all fresh in the morning…bloody albert …..what if…etc etc well into the small hours while Jo snores peacefully on.

40 Dei - Easter Sunday

Charleon’s mother died at 5.15 am. Charleon is a founder member of WSB who opted out of this play because both his mother and father were likely to die in the coming months. The hospital had confused her records with that of another lady and could not issue a death certificate until a doctor arrived to sort out the muddle. Undeterred, we drove to the cemetery where there were several grave diggers who confirmed that there was one burial scheduled for 1 o’clock; a woman who had been in her house for a day and a half already. So that one would have to go first. We found the municipal officer at his house and he was willing to take the fee for the burial without the death certificate. In fact everyone was respectful and understanding which was very moving. The costs of a funeral devour at least a month’s salary of a well paid local staff. Most likely 2 months. Back to Charlie’s house and many more family and friends had gathered. A phone call to say the doctor had sorted it out and that Charlie shouldn’t stress about picking up the certificate. Another phone call to say the other woman’s funeral would take place after Charlie’s mother’s. It was a poignant affair even for those of us not convinced by Christianity. Charlie’s dad, frail, seated on a small red stool surrounded by family and quite a good turn out given that many would have had plans or headed out over Easter. I remember Charlie’s Dad on the very first tour Wan Smolbag made to Charlie’s home island of Ambrym. Probably in his early 50s and me 29 but so much more agile than me across the stony rock strewn beach! This section of the cemetery getting more and more populated as it moves up to the boundary fence, the graves closer together than elsewhere across the cemetery as if there is an awareness it wont last too much longer. And two or three graves dug out of the stony ground ready for the coming funerals. What hard work it is being a grave digger. As they told Charlie earlier when we saw them, if the other woman was being buried at 1 they’d need a half hour’s rest at least in between. They shovel the sand back in as everyone stands around silent except for the cries of the daughters, ( no ,Mummy, no go…)

Having buried my own mother in England last year I am struck by the differences. A swift cremation for her at the press of the button followed by a service in the local church; the vicar got her name wrong at one point. But she lay in the funeral director’s parlour for over two weeks, which I was so grateful for because it meant I could sit with her even though I couldn’t get back to UK for a week. Although it was expensive, the expenses were taken out of the will and there is a fund you could have applied for if you were below a certain level of income….

40 Dei - from the 9th back to the 6th April!

I think this should be read from last to first.

Thursday 9th

Am in plotting the lighting cues with Beru when he receives a phone call..from his wife. She’s ready to give birth. Well, not quite, she doesn’t need a car quite yet. Three of us in the office which doubles as lighting control room are somewhat gob smacked by this as we did not know she was pregnant. ‘Er Beru don’t you want to go home?’ ‘’It’s OK.’

30 minutes later, another call. She needs to go now. He borrows my car to get her from Pango, about 20 minutes away. He’s back in an hour and a half. She’s had a baby girl. He met his elder brother taking her in a bus half way. They just made it.

Weds 8th

I abandoned the regular warm up to have time to practice bits before the run through. Really paying attention to detail and demanding military like attention with cries like ‘I’m totally serious today’ and ‘I’ve been awake since 4 o’clock thinking about this and I’m not taking any bullshit’ and corniest of all as as I scream some abuse at the church chorus, ‘ I wouldn’t bother if I thought you were rubbish.’ All only corny in retrospect and of course 100% sincere at the time.

And…it’s the best ever run through! A visiting UNESCO person who watched the second half was the second overseas person in a week to say that Albert was an incredibly convincing drunk on stage! Spectacular. But best of all was another rehearsal of bits in the afternoon. We killed a darling. There is a beautiful song in the first half, (the one I mentioned last week in conjunction with Albert’s falling trousers) but it just doesn’t work or isn’t needed where it is, so we dropped it. We use it at the curtain call though. Then, better still, I think, we turned the last scene in the first half into something much more moving and believable. So everyone is off to an extended Easter break with more clichés from me ringing in their ears:

‘Whilst we may be going happily into Easter, we have to prove we can put two good run throughs together. By itself this means nothing….’

‘Don’t forget the play for a week, look at your scripts over the break….’

‘Remember you have a really heavy schedule ahead. This is your last break before Christmas. Please don’t get trashed or get into drunken fights over Easter. Use the extra day at the end to get into the right head space ready for the weeks ahead…..’

Yeah yeah, whatever, Peter, see you Wednesday.

Tuesday 7th

And what an utter disaster it was. Jo and I have this 20 year old dispute about the creative merits of directing and writing. Sometimes it is a ritualized eyes raised to heaven kind of joke. At other times usually associated with alcohol it can lead to us sleeping in separate rooms. She gets really pissed off by my claim that directing is essentially about making sure people don’t bump into each other and today I spectacularly proved I couldn’t even do that. There is a scene where actors race in from opposite sides with washing lines that they hang up. One of the regular hangers up of the line, Joyce, was at a funeral so Joyanne stood in. Vero races in from the other side and splat! You could see it coming..a second’s hesitation and the realisation that it was going to happen and like those pavement incidents, except at speed, they both decide to avoid the other by stepping the same way and end up a heap on the floor. About sums up the whole run through. Albert was all over the place, just saying lines really and, to reiterate, who can blame him? Yet another death, which he had gone to attend before the run through. So he, or rather his girlfriend, has had a premature baby (who’s doing well, touch wood), spent two nights at the morgue with the family of the escaped prisoner who was beaten to death, and then had another death of a young lad, all in the space of a week. This lad was very popular on his home island; an electrician who mended everybody’s DVD decks and other electrical items. No one could say how he died..’body blong hem I swellap.’

So a really depressing evening at home, with Jo by now swept up in the depression too. My directing’s crap’, I say ‘No, my script is rubbish’ says she etc etc and now it all hangs on the last run though before Easter.

Monday 6th

Review summary today. Very flattering. One reviewer pointing out that a mere three episodes of our soap Love Patrol if made in Australia might devour our whole budget , which involves running clinics (that between them recorded over 10,000 clients last year), youth centres and employing over 100 people. She thought we were excellent value for money. So, stuff that in your pipes all those who think we are fat cats of the NGO world. And probably even with this glowing review and an increase in core donor funding (AusAID and NZAID) over the next 5 years, we face some tough decisions regarding employment and cutbacks.

Tomorrow is the first run through for a WEEK!!!