The Calm Before the Storm…?

The relatively chillaxed month of March is drawing to an end, and soon Halden Theatre will explode in a flurry of activity (all Triliteral-related, naturally) ! We expect to have all the feedback from our almighty and all-knowing judges in a week’s time, and then it’s just a heartbeat until casting begins for our nine glossy new plays. Even typing the word ‘nine’ made my stomach do an involuntarysomersault. We’re a bit crazy to be dong this, aren’t we? Why didn’t anyone stop us?

While April is looking like a chaotic looming volcano, March was as sedate and serene as predicted (hence the lack of blog movements). Perhaps the busiest we have been was when Daniel and I took a trip down to Cheltenham- not for the horse-racing, but to meet up with the newest recruits to the Triliteral cause, my old university chums Mr. Tall Paul and Ms. Sammi Searle. These brave, enterprising (some would say, foolhardy) souls have agreed to do a spot of directing for the festival, lightening our workload massively. The day was spent in hard, intense discussion about the nature of Triliteral, broken up only slightly by hours and hours of drinking beer and general nattering (oh, and an ill-conceived wander through the rainy alleys of Cheltenham searching for a pub called the ‘Brewmaster’-totally worth it though). A fun and productive day, marred only by our train home- as it was the last day of the Cheltenham Festival, the rush was enormous and we were herded onto a train full of depressed gamblers. Also we had eaten too many co-op pork pies, and were feeling a bit vomity.

Speaking of hedonism, my birthday celebrations took place on Saturday!* This consisted of a banquet of royal proportions held at Daniel’s abode, complete with 12 courses, a great deal of wine, some obscene birthday cards (credit to Richard Pilgrim), a flourescent green T-shirt (more credit to Richard Pilgrim) and the best British ale known to mankind: http://hywelsbiglog.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/beer-review-robinsons-old-tom-strong-ale/.** Honestly, one of the best birthdays I have had so far and I would like to thank Daniel Hallam, Richard Pilgrim and Karielle Webster for making it such a treat. Not that I can remember much of it…needless to say, not much got done on Sunday.

But my birthday has passed, and these frivolities must end! Auditions are our top priority at the moment, and our casting call for the Triliteral plays is ongoing. Anyone wishing to audition should read the previous blog post, and then e-mail actors@haldentheatre.co.uk to confirm attendance. Yeah.

That’s it from me. I’ll be back in a week or so, when I will announce our judge’s decisions on which nine plays Halden will be producing this June, oh the excitement!

Keep it real,

Richie G

*That’s right, I’m advancing through my twenties alarmingly quickly. Twenty-two has arrived, and my spring years are behind me…

** Goodness, this fellow has used the same theme as me! However, he is the superior blogger in that he has figured out how to put pictures in.