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