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!!!

40 Dei - Monday April 6th

Should have mentioned that on Thursday we re-rehearsed the scene where the Pastor tries to reunite with his daughter after stopping her from marrying Matthew. Joyanne and Titus both in tears by the end. Joyanne has always been able to cry on stage. Sometimes you wish she could turn the tap off but usually it is very moving. For Titus it is a relatively recent skill that he has acquired. Most noticeably in series two of Love Patrol; watch out for a great confession scene in episode 4!

On Friday we rehearse the curtain call, which was a chance for a big sing-a-long. It united us all. The usual problem; half the cast bowing two seconds before the other half! So, so nervous now. Seems weeks between run throughs and we have the review summary on Monday too.

Came across this on Sunday from an interview with a famous Nigerian novelist about her studies in the USA:

She recalls a fellow student announcing: "The violence in Africa is different." "It's something I'll never forget," Adichie says. "This was someone who could end up formulating western policy towards Africa, working for the state department. He said 'You know, they're doing it with machetes.' And someone said: 'But there's violence in the inner city here.' And he said 'No, that's different, they're just shooting.' Adichie tells me the episode will feature in a future book.

And I fear I was a little guilty of similar thoughts in the blog the other day in my response to the killing of the prisoner. Apologies if I was. Vanuatu is no more a cesspit of violence than many places, possibly less so but it is at a crucial point. I hear the government is distributing bullocks and other recompense to families of the captured prisoners; as if it is easier to buy them off than deal with the culture of violence that exists in the police and VMF. And when the President would rather block a bill that combats violence in the home (I am prepared to bet several of the prisoners have violent upbringings), one should be worried about the authorities willingness to tackle rising violence by all parties: criminals, law enforcement agencies and family violence. But come on WSB members, I believe you are the only people who read this blog. Tell me what you think!

40 Dei - Wed 1 Thurs 2 April

Marking time now. Don’t want to over cook it. Nerves are jangling. Actors with time on their hands before a big event get too playful! Carpenters working very hard to get the building ready; we’re rigging lights, buying costume, recording sound tracks. We need to act and record a fight in the road at night for the nightmare going on in one of the actor’s heads. And a different actor trots off to the dentist everyday. I think if it weren’t for Easter and the review I would have opened mid month.

And then I realise I’m missing a good opportunity; several scenes could be tightened, could be pushed further. It’s my worst fault as a director (at least of the ones I can see in myself!). I get too carried away in run throughs and forget detail. Wow, that’s powerful I think but will it be that powerful every time? Does the actor have a strong enough base to make it fresh each time? Could it be more powerful still? Are we wallowing in that power and in fact it’s really self -indulgence and what we need is pace. So thankfully I have caught myself this time and we go back to the rehearsal room to explore individual scenes. The actors seem to appreciate it.

We all met with the review team this morning. They are very sympathetic and supportive and full of constructive comments. Given the stress around at the moment we could not have asked for more sensitive reviewers. The local team member said afterwards how the review had opened her eyes about just how much WSB does and how she had had no idea about certain departments-the clinics, the turtle monitors, the youth centre. We could do a lot more PR!

Given our talk yesterday about the current arrangement of the seating and the play itself not being too suitable for young children, I was amused to read in the UK press today about a famous actor in a powerful play who was so fed up with someone in a school party in the front row that he came out of character and said to the student that he would not go on till he, the student, left. The reporter said that most of the audience agreed with him but there was something scary about their 'mob mentality' as they shouted 'out, out, out' until the student plus teacher left.

40 Dei - Tues 31st March

Even better run through today. Time to stop for a few days. Told Betio we were going to go with Albert as the sole Matthew .He took it very well and went round being very busy making sure everyone was in position for the run through. He promptly fell over back stage and twisted his knee and has 2 days sick leave.

Titus had a stitch in his gum following the tooth removals and has developed a slight lisp as the tongue has no teeth to brush against. His performance in the circumstances was heroic. Albert too had spent most of the night in the mortuary with the family of the boy beaten to death. Apparently he had a big hole in the side of his head where he had been beaten with a piece of wood. I try to imagine this kind of blood lust. I can just about get as far as shooting him in both legs as he comes out of the house if I were a harassed officer having my whole life disrupted by seeking out escaped prisoners, but then driving him up to the camp to beat him is just beyond my comprehension.

So when these two, Titus and Albert, stagger into the final scene where Titus visits Albert in prison, they both looked utterly exhausted and a few lines go. But the backstories of the lives going on during these weeks plus the topicality of the play seems to add to the intensity. For the first time in 20 years I find myself hoping not too many small kids come along with parents to watch it.But that's almost impossible to achieve here. They will be restless and giggle when you don't want them too but it is just part of the Vanuatu theatre scene.

40 Dei - Mon 30th March

Betio’s brother having an operation. Albert is at the hospital. Not just because his baby is still in an incubator but also because his neighbour has just been shot and beaten to death by the VMF. He was one of the escapees and Albert had to make a statement to the police , not quite clear why. The inevitable has happened and whilst many shout ‘I gud ia’ others of us just see it as one more step towards the cesspit of violence that Vanuatu seems to want to become. Another incident witnessed by one of our actors yesterday. A large group of women got hold of a another woman who had been sleeping with one of their husbands. They beat her up very badly and shoved Pima up her vagina. She is in hospital.

So we delay the run through till one of Betio or Albert can join us. There’s one song about a drunken fight that we have never put in and we spend an hour and a half doing that.

And the run through in the afternoon is the best yet. Albert’s performance particularly given how many things are happening in his life is astounding. Our intern from East 15 hugely impressed. Mike watched it for the first time and said it was so powerful he couldn’t see how we could outdo this one! The second half in light of the mornings news of the death of a prisoner seemed even more scary.

Straight afterwards Titus off to have 4 more teeth out

40 Dei - Friday 27 March

Albert is there! His baby lived through the night and he has come to do the run through. One actress's husband has been diagnosed with TB and obviously she has to be tested herself. So all in all some people have good reason for not being focussed and so it proved; the first half was a disaster. Albert finally, in a scene he does so well, stopping and saying ‘Sorry Peter I am completely lost. ‘ Others have less excuse for a loss of focus. Bit of a team talk before proceeding to the second half. It’s so difficult to get a run through started. Actors waiting at three different entrances and trying to stay in the aircon offices away from the cauldron that is the theatre. All feels like chaos and leads to an unprepared start. In a couple of cases I will have to bring it down to one cast however hard that is for the actors to take; better that than be compared unfavourably to the other person playing the part when audiences see it.

Second half went well; seems to be the case most times now and a good set of notes. Even raised a smile from Albert. I asked to him to come to work in a pair of shorts that he actually didn’t have to clutch because they are always on the verge of falling down. It’s particularly irritating when he is singing his soul out in this sad song; ‘my heart is sore( yank shorts up), ‘I try to follow the straight road’ ..whoops there go the shorts again. But we need to get some consistency..and fast.

Tooth dramas continue. The dentist rings at 4pm; she wants to take 12 of Titus’s teeth out, many of them stumps basically and advises us to get a quote from someone for lower dentures. Titus agrees, but something of an unwanted complication for your lead actor 4 weeks from opening night. Yvette needs three root canals but probably too expensive.

I heard that shackles are going to be introduced at the prison and that the bitterness about the violence amongst all inmates not only escapees is very high.

40 Dei - Tues to Thursday 24-26 March

Had the meeting mid morning and no explosions. But a cast change. Titus is now the sole pastor. Bob going to have a crack at the MP. Superb run through of the 2^nd half in the afternoon despite the blistering heat, which is a reminder that a cyclone is still possible. Jo watched it, plus a visiting intern,Richard, from East 15 acting School.

Wed, really bad run through which I watched from another seat and decided I’d made a hash of the blocking.

Thursday, great run through of the whole play and the world is right again. Except it isn’t because Albert’s wife has given birth to a baby boy..2 months prematurely and there a scare in the afternoon that the baby is not well. Better news in the evening but it will be touch and go for a while which cannot make it easy for Albert to rehearse.

Vanuatu’s police commissioner was at WSB attending a forum organised by Mike for youth and representatives from rural villages we work with. It was their chance to quiz various reps from the legal sector. It was impressive that the guests all turned up. One youth asked if the commissioner thought it was right that when youth were arrested on suspicion of rape or theft they also got beaten up by the police. He asked if ‘bigmen’(ie politicians etc) were also beaten up if they got arrested. Brave lad. The police commissioner urged everybody to report cases of police brutality today not tomorrow and there was a panel in the police to deal with exactly this sort of thing, which naturally reassured everyone in the room.

40 Dei - Monday March 23

No rehearsals because today a major external review of Wan Smolbag theatre started. Great timing! Actually so wired up about the play that there’s no space left to fret about the review so maybe it’s a good thing. Also the awkward group meeting put off because the main concerned party was away at a funeral. The rest of us met to discuss the situation. I think in some ways sadness, followed by frustration, is the prevailing emotion as the person concerned is a longtime member. I hope some solution can be reached.

The beautiful woollen backdrops we ordered from Australia have arrived and we hung them up today. They looked gorgeous and have improved the acoustic.

40 Dei - Sunday March 22

Jo and I spent some time looking through poetry anthologies for appropriate quotes for the program. Soon wandering through old favourites that had nothing to do with the program!

Those that were relevant are probably too Eurocentric or the English too obscure for our audience. William Blake, always chiding religious hypocrisy is a good example in a poem like the Garden of Love which now

..was filled with graves
And tombstones where flowers should be
And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars my joys and desires.

Perhaps easier is The Divine Image in which he says that Mercy, Love, Pity and Peace are the essence of Christianity and it ends:

And all must love the human form,
In heathen,Turk, or Jew;
Where Mercy, Love & Pity dwell
There God is dwelling too.

Our own favourite was a typically laconic Larkin poem entitled Days:

What are days for?
Days are where we live.
They come, they wake us
Time and time over.

They are to be happy in;
Where can we live but days?

Ah, solving that question
Brings the priest and the doctor
In their long coats
Running over the fields.

40 Dei - Friday 20th March

We had a good group meeting straight after warm up; we’ll take a whole week off over Easter as the group are owed quite a bit of TOIL. One or two worried about momentum being lost but on the whole when people considered the next 7 months; 30-odd shows in 6 weeks, rehearsals for other plays for the international theatre festival we’re hosting, 5 months on series 3 of Love Patrol, then this seemed a last opportunity to recharge.

I asked how many people wanted dental check ups. 8! We had to prioritise who was an emergency and who just had a long term nagging problem. Actually as much as affordability (see yesterday’s blog), it’s also a matter of sugar intake, which is very high. Had an interesting chat not so long ago with an HIV specialist who confessed that he was surprised in some Pacific countries that he was never told by people ‘You’ve been saying that HIV will wipe us out for the last 20 years, but we’ve still only got 5 cases.’ Whereas type 2 diabetes continues to sky rocket. …as it does in many parts of the world, I know. One of the painful ironies of attending funerals of people who have had diabetes here is that it is standard practice to bring to the family of the deceased large amounts of white rice and sugar to help feed the number of grieving relatives who come to stay with you.

Didn’t quite reach the end of the play as we had agreed to give the afternoon over to a run through of the first half. To my surprise this started very well. The first 20 minutes were excellent…and then it nosedived and everyone knew why. We have some tough talking to do next week. An awkward decision has to be made.

40 Dei - Thursday March 19th

Big crusade going on all week near us. ‘Jesus didn’t have a PA system,’ says Matthew in the play. ‘It’s a different world today,’ says Lei and she has a point. I am reminded of that scene in Life of Brian with the huge crowds listening to Brian preaching and John Cleese at the back going ‘What’s he saying?’ But it is increasingly difficult to find a crusade free part of town these days. Sound on night shoots in films is constantly bedevilled , whoops, wrong word there, by the sound of PA boosted pastors somewhere out there in the dark.

Teeth. I am prepared to bet that more than most directors in the world I am saddled with actors with tooth problems. Dental hygiene is not high up on many people’s priorities or affordabilities and most of the group suffer terribly, with the older members having lost a fair few by their late thirties, early 40s.Poor Albert, not one of the oldies, has had several sleepless nights with tooth ache of late and still comes to work. I must give up a day once the whole thing is blocked to getting dental appointments for all in need.

And we’re nearly there. Thought we might make it today but chose instead a slower more detailed approach. It’s lovely when you see actors agree with your notes and transform a scene in the next run through. Amazing what a difference it makes just thinking for a second where you have come from or what’s just happened to you as a character in your off stage life. Great work from several people today. So good to see Bob’s performance beginning to grow.

Big discussion about how to do the beating up of the escaped prisoners. We have a beautiful chilling song but what action do we put with it? General agreement that if we have any kind of mimed beating up or slo-mo kick boxing show the audience will piss themselves..with laughter. We experimented with the singers coming on, stony expressions, and towards the end of it 3 policemen dragging in the bloodied bodies of the prisoners. The music finishes, we hear crickets over the PA and the police drink a shell of kava as the bodies groan; one prisoner mumbles shoot me and the policeman wanders up to him with a lighted cigarette and slowly stubs it in his face as we cut to black out. Probably too much and the dragging of bodies may cause laughter. We have another couple of simpler, more symbolic, reserve options. And I just don’t know how communities split. Jennifer (our reseach officer) , how about a street poll asking people whether they think it is good the escapees are beaten senseless when captured? Could go in the program. Was walking home and met an ex youth club member (who found a job!) and keen film WSB extra. I asked how many prisoners were still out and then said, ‘I hear they’re really badly beaten when the mobile force get them…’

‘I gud ya’ End of conversation.