Something wicked this way comes (or, things are about to get Wyrd)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Fine. Okay. I can do this.

For the last 3 years, I've been acting again. I have, basically, not been away from plays in some way, shape or form since August 2010, when Miscriant took me along to an audition for the Canterbury Players show Dark of the Moon. Even when I've been 'taking a break', which has happened a couple of times, I've been asked to support with technical side either of Players shows, or for our sister company, Ashcan. I shall talk more about my previous productions with the Players and Ashcan on future posts, I would imagine (future RV is a bit flaky, but I'll leave the idea with him to work on).

Before this latest spate as an actor, the trend in my performance work was definitely heading towards director and script editor. I took part in drama and shows from about the age of 5 through to 23. I got my first feel about devising at a set of workshops I did when I was 15, and this moved onto directing for a local competition when I was 17 and 18 (a school's competition, the maximum age of the perfomers was year 11, so 16, and the directors had to be from the 6th form). Won both times too. Through Uni, I directed more often than I performed, including a film of excerpts I made for a practical project in the drama modules of my degree and some new pieces I directed for a friend who had aspirations to be (and already was in my opinion) a successful stage writer.

An incorrigible show off, I tended to end up acting a little bit in most of these as well. When I joined the Players, I immediately started talking in terms of directing - that was what I was. But I knew that I'd need to earn my spurs first - either act in or support with the creation of a couple of productions. I wanted to do that if only to get my eye back in.

I rediscovered a love of acting, of simply being in the theatre. It wasn't supposed to be three years before I directed. But, things got away from me...and here we are.

I am directing the autumn production of the Canterbury Players this year. Wyrd Sisters - the Stephen Briggs adaptation of the early Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett.

As anyone who knows me knows (and those of you meeting me here will come to appreciate), Pratchett's Discworld is one of my biggest fan boy indulgences. Theatre has been a such a dominant part of my life, especially recently, and one of several dream jobs is that of director. So directing a stage production of Pratchett should be massively exciting, right?

It will be. Right now, I'm terrified.

I've take a break from active involvement in the Player's current production ('Tis Pity She's a Whore, on in June), other than a bit of support here and there, in order to plan directing this production.

There is a grand tradition that the Players take a 'summer break'. For practical reasons, little is planned to rehearse during the period from mid July - late August so that people can take summer holidays. The large representation of the teaching profession in our society has influenced this also. Therefore, rehearsals for this show won't begin until the end of August. So why am I panicking now?

In the last couple of years, the autumn production has been cast in the few weeks between the summer production and the unofficial 'close down' for the summer (generally taken to be the AGM). This allows the director to 'strike while the iron is hot' and capture members old and new who have just been involved with, or seen, the latest show, but also, in theory, to allow them to cast and encourage the cast to at least start getting a feel for the lines in the close down period.

So, although the full time work on this production won't start until after the wedding of two close friends and my own summer of events and holidays, today I am thinking about Wyrd Sisters.

I need to plan the blurb for the auditions, the dates for them, and maybe, what I am going to do (though knowing me, the last bit will be done in the 24 hours before the audition).

It has all suddenly become very real. I can feel Granny Weatherwax looking at me.

What if I've forgotten how to direct? What if I cast wrong? How will I let friends, as so many in the Players have become, know that they either haven't got parts, or not the part they wanted, or not as big a part as they wanted? Will I get a crew together? Will people want to work with me? What if it is a complete failure, either commericially or artistically? Even a stint as assisitant director on Teechers in Jan-March hasn't assuaged them - it essentially confirmed to me that I am a great 2-I-C, but not necessarily that I can lead. What if I can't do justice to the genius of Pratchett or to the Gulbenkian theatre, which I love?

All these thoughts, or variations on them, have always run through my head before starting a production as director. I get similar ones when acting. They have been nagging at the edge of my mind for a few weeks now, and planning this has brought them all flooding back.

I've missed them.

Every single time I have had them, it has been followed by a fantastic, enjoyable experience with a product that I have felt proud of. Bring it on.

When shall we three meet again? I can do this November.