Readers of this blog would hardly suspect that since before Christmas I have been working on a production of Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine. I've kept quiet about it because had I posted you'd mostly have read a cheerless tirade about the difficulties and disappointments of the project, the unreliability and incompetence of others (my competence and reliability being above reproach of course) and the total inadequacy of our rehearsal facilities.

But last night we held our first rehearsal in the theatre. What fun it was. What a buzz to have a set, lights and sound and an enthusiastic cast getting to grips with the play in a proper space. That was our technical rehearsal so there was tweaking here and there, halts for fiddling with lights, re-runs of tricky bits and rushing past sections where nothing much other than acting takes place.

Tonight the dress rehearsal in which we aim to simulate performance conditions and then tomorrow we open.

Wouldn't it be lovely to have more theatre time or a really good rehearsal space. Don't sigh for Kitwe......carpe diem.