I washed my nice cosy machine-washable wool zip-up cardigan.  It's a sort of pale, biscuity beige.  As I've often done before, I washed a few white items along with it.  Never been a problem.

I think my washing machine may have made a small thermostatic error, as two unusual things have happened:

a) The cardigan is now about twelve feet long, and no longer possesses the nice cosy texture it previously did.

b) I now own a number of pairs of pants with a definite pink tinge.  Odd really - the cardigan isn't remotely red, and it's been washed dozens of times.  What's more, it's predominantly the waistbands of my underwear that have absorbed the most colour - they're very pink indeed, whereas the rest is just "not quite white" in a sort of pinkish direction.

I expect it's a penance for my loudly poking fun at the Calgon ads on the telly.

Nobody looks
Though I whore my soul to unseen thousands,
Unseen, unknown,
Selecting, unselecting,
"No, not him",
My fate a mere click,
My face, unfitting,
Nobody looks.

The summer's high has well and truly worn off.  Not a single moment of my usual introspective bollocks and gloom while on tour, but now I'm home, events have rather caught up with me.

The disastrous audition for the panto.

The much, much better audition for Charley's Aunt a few days later, which seemed so promising, with assurances that I'd hear very soon, but which has now been followed by a profound silence.

The never-ending saga of my house sale, with solicitors spending months incompetently shuffling pieces of paper while my buyer prepares to be evicted by his existing landlord, and I go steadily bankrupt.

The very pleasant weekend of camping, with the highpoint of being gently seduced by someone I'd always rather liked. I knew perfectly well it was only a bit of fun, with no probable future, yet somehow the absence of a reply to my polite and friendly text seems to have been enough to provide a suitable last straw - must be the context of everything else I suppose.  Always the things I've had most trouble with, over the years, being ignored and feeling disposable.  Should know better.

Nope.  Lack of proper preparation, as I feared, led to me performing like a bad karaoke singer.  Really rather awful.  Didn't make the cut, and home to lick my wounds.  All good experience though, and an extra incentive to start getting some proper training - whether it be individual tuition via the Actors' Centre, etc., or finding a way to get to Drama School, but something at least.

Cassie, bless her, did make the cut.  Hope the rest of her audition goes well.

An audition today, for Brentwood Theatre's 2007 panto, David Wood's The Owl and The Pussycat Went to See...

When it popped up on CastingCallPro, I laughed, because it's a show the Artisans did some years ago, and I was in - and the audition song I'd used at the Chapterhouse audition was from that very show.
This, coupled with the fact that it's very local, really meant I had to apply, though I put it off for ages.  Something about it at the time filled me with terror, and still does now, on the morning of the audition.  A different kind of terror to that I'd felt for my previous auditions, partly because I shall know at least two of the audition panel very well, thus invoking the "not making a fool of myself" neurosis more strongly than usual; and partly because I've had much less time to prepare than I'd like - the two songs will be sung with moderately unfamiliar accompaniments - and there's been no chance to collar anyone with a piano to practice with before the audition.

It was inevitable, perhaps.  This is Chapterhouse, after all.  The 2007 season was never going to end without a sting or two in the tail.

Early on the morning of our last show, somebody smashed Cassie's bedroom window through from the street,  Thank goodness, although her bed was right under the window, her head was well away from the pane that was broken.

The Midsummer/As You Like It Cast had their van break down on the M1, on their way back to Lincoln for their final show, and some of them had to spend the night in the van in a lorry park.

In the early hours of the next morning, two men forced their way into Oddfellows' Hall, barging past Nick who was smoking in the doorway, made their way straight to Alan's bedroom, and made off with his laptop through the fire exit.

---

However, not all of the closing hours were bad ones.

The final show of the season, As You Like It, up at the Castle, was a fine show.  Very physical, for such a wordy play, very funny, and some outstanding performances.  Laughed myself hoarse.  Nice to see how the outdoor Shakespeare experience is for the audience for a change, too. Next time, must wear more layers.  Grrr, I covet their tent too.

Then the party.  Two fridges full of beer and pizza.  A great deal of cheerful drunkenness.  I came away around 3am - many stayed much later.



And the goodbyes in the morning.   No tears, but many a warm hug.

Chapterhouse 2007.  Not an experience I'm keen to repeat just at the moment, but one I wouldn't have missed for the world.

So that's that.  The last show (Lincoln Castle) duly completed - and completed well, it has to be said, for it was a worthy performance to finish on, much aided by a very chucklesome audience - one lady in particular, who cackled impressively all the way through.

We have to empty the vehicles today, and return them to the hire company, who hopefully won't be too upset at the damage to the van...

Here's the cast as it stood at the end of the tour...


On the stage, from left to right:  Jay (Leonato/Oatcake), Some Bald Twat (Don Pedro/Seacoal), Dave (Balthazar/Dogberry), Alan (Don John/Friar/Verges), Ellie (Margaret/Borachio), Harriet (Beatrice), Nick (Claudio).
On the ground: Cassie (Hero/Sexton), Hugh (Benedick).

Attentive readers will already know that this is not, of course, how the cast looked when it began.  I wish I'd taken complete cast photos along the way, to illustrate how things altered, but hey ho, let me see if I can summarise:

At the start of the tour, Simon played Benedick and Borachio, Nicola was Beatrice, Sam was Claudio and the Sexton. 
When Simon and Nicola left, we briefly had Lou and Marcus as Beatrice & Benedick, while Ellie stood in as Borachio. 
Then Hugh and Harriet joined us for their three days of rehearsal for B & B.  Lou briefly returned as Beatrice for a couple of shows when Harriet had prior committments.  This was the point when Ellie was taken ill, so Dave stood in as Margaret, and Cassie as Borachio.
Ellie recovered fast, and returned (hooray!), but then Sam was taken ill, and we needed a new Claudio very speedily, which was when Nick arrived, reading in the part with one hour's rehearsal. Cassie took over as the Sexton, to save Nick having to learn that as well.  There was a point where it looked like Sam would return, but in the end, Nick remained until the end.

Phew.  Have I missed anything?