SW

On the list of Things That Never Happen To Me the number one spot is filled with the concept of getting out of bed before the alarm goes off. Even if I wake up before that insistent chirpy bastard does, I always choose to lie there, eyes resolutely scrunched, willing sleep to drift back for a precious few more minutes. Even if it means I spend those minutes riddled with anxiety, furious with consciousness, I won't get out of bed out of sheer stubbornness.

This morning, however, was different.

This morning I woke up from a curious night of stage-related anxiety dreams ("But I can't remember the words! We haven't rehearsed this! Why do have to do my finals at the SAME TIME?") and my eyes zinged open.

That's right. Zinged.

Then I got up. A full half hour before my alarm. I was too zingy to stay in bed. This is not normal for me.

The last few weeks have been busy, dashing about doing bits of work, finishing things off, trying to concentrate on things. But really I've just been getting through everything, passing it by, waiting for the moment where it would be my Show Week.

Fun fact: did you know that every time someone uses the phrase Show Week! John Barrowman gains a superpower?

Show week! There you go, Barrowman. The ability to open jam jars first go every time. You're welcome.

(I'm a tiny bit scared.)

Everything I experience at the moment is divided into two categories: Material for the Show and Not Material for the Show. I was in the hairdresser on Saturday and they had MTV on, and it was showing Bryan Adams: Live in Belgium, and I couldn't stop wondering where it might go in The Show. Do I open with it? Is it the encore?
Then the hairdresser asked me if I was "doing anything for Halloween" in a tone of voice that suggested she not only didn't care but sincerely hoped that one of us would die before she had to listen to the answer, so I moved on to wondering how sarcastic you're allowed to be to someone who is holding a pair of very sharp scissors near your ears.

I am going into Contact Theatre at ten this morning, and I plan to stick things up all over the walls of the rehearsal space and work out Where I'm At With All This. I've been given some money from Cornerhouse Micro-Commissions to use on the technology for the show, so Dan is coming in today to discuss how to use it. When I say "discuss" I of course mean I will say things like "can we make it so that it does a thing and sounds nice?" and he will give me an answer I don't understand.

On the list of Things That Almost Never Happen To Me the number one spot is the idea of making a show on my own and doing it in front of people.

(I'm a tiny bit excited.)

Show Week! There you go John, the power to do your shoelaces up just by looking at them.

(Eeek.)