40 Dei - Tues 17 March

Day starts well with the scene where the politician asks forgiveness in church for his sins. Is he really born again or is it something to do with the upcoming election?

Then Albert, one of our Matthews, is called out. He comes back looking nervous. 6 or so Mobile Force members have come to take him for questioning regarding the harbouring of escaped prisoners. This is so close to what happens to his character in the play that it is scary…but not as scary as things looked at that minute for Albert. The prisoners who escaped a couple of weeks ago are slowly being found and predictably being made ‘to swim in their own blood’. This morning two have been picked up and there is a drive to find harbourers too.

Noone really wants to rehearse. If Albert is taken in and Betio remains undecided whether he wants to do Mathew, we may not have a production. So some half hearted practice of songs continues but soon the talk is all of the prisoners and ways of dealing with them. Someone has heard that the mobile force are determined to make sure the regular escapees never escape again, presumably by crippling them.

Albert returns just before lunch, unharmed and we were much relieved. But he is shaken. They took him up to the camp where there were several other suspected harbourers. As he got out of the truck a soldier standing nearby in the camp shouted ‘killim!’ Five of them took him into a bare concrete floored room on which there lay a bloodstained piece of wood; the floor was covered in blood and spittle. Things didn’t look good for him; one of the prisoners had said he had stayed with Albert. Albert denied it. ’Look,’ he said, ‘I have a great job, my wife is pregnant why would I do that? If anyone says that bring them in and let him say it to my face.’ Whether this convinced them, whether the fact that he is well known helped, I don’t know but he was delivered for the time being back to WSB. Here ends the latest update on Vanuatu’s wild west justice system.

Two hours on the song 'whisky' where i found a use for my shields from gladiator. Looked alright to me but was paranoid everyone else would think it's like a roman battle scene. Jo arrived and we did the song for her. no jokes about centurions so i guess it works.