Knock Knock - Best performance/Best audience

Our best audience and our best performance.  Funny how often the two coincide.  I think it was a full house.  At least, I didn’t see any empty seats when I peaked at the audience before the start – one of my tradition/superstitions.

We had a little problem early.  Very early.  At the beginning of the show I take my place at the stove in the kitchen where I’m cooking stew in a pot.  As I take my place and look at the pot, there’s nothing there.  First time ever.  Now at this point in the script, we have about a page of dialogue where the existence and/or non-existence of stew is quite important in establishing the relationship between these two middle-aged old farts.  It's at these moments that one learns just how fast one's mine can race trying to find a way out of a dangerous situation.  It's probably how Batman felt all the time.

Coming up with zilch, I drew upon that old tried and true tactic, one that applies to all life in general, just keep going like there’s nothing wrong and maybe they won’t notice. 

So I mimed pouring stew out the pot and mimed taking little bites.  I hate mime.  

 Whether the audience noticed or did not notice is debatable but they stayed with us, laughed with or at us,  sent us tremendous energy and ultimately forgave us our transgressions and we had a helluva time together.

Meanwhile, backstage, Becky Oliver, our outstanding stage manager, was beating herself up.  She was also the stew wrangler.  Apparently, the stew was on the stove in a thermos but it had never been poured into the pot.  (The fault was really mine for not asking her to make sure that the stew was in the pot but if she wanted to take the fall for it; who am I to argue?  I will make sure to ask her for our one last show on Sunday afternoon.)

One last show on Sunday afternoon.

We began dealing with the post show planning last night.  What to do with costumes, what do we need to strike from the set, where do the props go, what do we do with furniture and, most importantly, finalized plans for the production party afterwards.  As with everything else in the theatre process, there is work involved and planning and there are no house elves to take care of it.  

Ten weeks of hard work and it comes down to one last show.  The intent is always the same; let’s go out on a high and just go for broke.   

Then party.