Now that Cloud Nine is over I know what I got wrong with it.

When I read the play I was not very impressed by act 2. Indeed before starting rehearsals I had looked at various ways of expanding act 1 and doing without act 2. So I was somewhat surprised at how my appreciation of act 2 grew during rehearsal and at how well it played. I was immensely pleased with the result.

Act 1 on the other hand had seemed to me hilarious, holding promise of endless pleasure in rehearsal and on stage. In the event the hilarity became subdued somewhere in the process and we ended up with what I felt was a rather bland and stodgy result.

I thought it was a lack of pace and energy that was the problem but now realise, thanks to a brief adjudication and to feedback from friends, that we had drawn the characters too timidly. A broader more exaggerated portrayal was needed. I guess my desire to avoid making a pantomime of Act 1 was the primary cause of the blandness that took the shine off the production.

Hopefully I'll know better next time.

Anyway, off to Amazonia in the morning. I don't know how easy it will be to keep posting from there but I'll give it a shot.

Ate logo for now.