This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/apr/26/theatre-by-the-lake-keswick-stage-manager-champagne-trousers-keswick-lake-district
The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Snogging couples and skirts that won't fall down | Snogging couples and skirts that won't fall down |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| Theatrical disasters are as old as theatre itself. No doubt somebody "corpsed" on the stage on the first night of a Sophocles production. And disasters have always happened to theatres as well – Sheridan was seen watching his Drury Lane Theatre burn down from a nearby coffee shop, where he is supposed to have said "a man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by his own fireside?" The Theatre by the Lake in Keswick – favourite theatre of most people lucky enough to have visited it – is much too professional and efficient for anything really drastic to have taken place, but, as with any live public performance, "events" will happen. David Ward, the theatre's literary consultant, chanced on the reports the stage managers write after each performance and soon realised he'd hit a gold mine. As he says "I then read through almost 250 reports for all six plays in the 2011 summer season and made a selection of special moments, a lot of them involving trousers, underwear, food and misbehaving props." The title comes from the inexplicable note for Some One to Watch Over Me - "mid scene iii: a noisy owl was heard as the vultures swooped down on the dead nun." | Theatrical disasters are as old as theatre itself. No doubt somebody "corpsed" on the stage on the first night of a Sophocles production. And disasters have always happened to theatres as well – Sheridan was seen watching his Drury Lane Theatre burn down from a nearby coffee shop, where he is supposed to have said "a man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by his own fireside?" The Theatre by the Lake in Keswick – favourite theatre of most people lucky enough to have visited it – is much too professional and efficient for anything really drastic to have taken place, but, as with any live public performance, "events" will happen. David Ward, the theatre's literary consultant, chanced on the reports the stage managers write after each performance and soon realised he'd hit a gold mine. As he says "I then read through almost 250 reports for all six plays in the 2011 summer season and made a selection of special moments, a lot of them involving trousers, underwear, food and misbehaving props." The title comes from the inexplicable note for Some One to Watch Over Me - "mid scene iii: a noisy owl was heard as the vultures swooped down on the dead nun." |
During The Blue Room, "loud snoring was heard through scene v from a member of the audience. The man did not return for Act II", although that was much less disturbing than, in the sometimes almost claustrophobically intimate setting of the studio theatre, in Dumb Show the cast and audience were confronted with this: | During The Blue Room, "loud snoring was heard through scene v from a member of the audience. The man did not return for Act II", although that was much less disturbing than, in the sometimes almost claustrophobically intimate setting of the studio theatre, in Dumb Show the cast and audience were confronted with this: |
| In the interval the cast reported that a couple sitting in A1 and A2 were full-on snogging in the first act. The cast (and one would imagine some of the audience) found this quite distracting, both visually and audibly (there was some slurping). Mr Barker looked for the couple during the interval but couldn't locate them. As they came back into the studio for Act II, he asked them to step outside to talk to Miss Jones, who politely pointed out to them that their behaviour was distracting the audience in the opposite seating block. They behaved themselves in Act II. | In the interval the cast reported that a couple sitting in A1 and A2 were full-on snogging in the first act. The cast (and one would imagine some of the audience) found this quite distracting, both visually and audibly (there was some slurping). Mr Barker looked for the couple during the interval but couldn't locate them. As they came back into the studio for Act II, he asked them to step outside to talk to Miss Jones, who politely pointed out to them that their behaviour was distracting the audience in the opposite seating block. They behaved themselves in Act II. |
Although there is nothing here to rival Mrs Malaprop, in the "Ways with words" section, Peter Macqueen managed to replace "ice" with "mice" in Hay Fever, and came up with the interesting near-spoonerism of "Chitty Chitty Bing Bong" in Some One Who'll Watch Over Me. One feels for poor Peter Vaughan, who "was unable to drink the milk as it had gone off" in Dumb Show, while other mishaps with "food and drink" included Matt Addis snapping the cork on a back-up bottle of champagne, and having to ad lib "sod the champagne, let's move on shall we?" while in Keep Smiling Through, "the porridge was a hard lumpy mess by the time Miss Saunders had to spoon it into a bowl". Also from Keep Smiling Through comes the plaintive note "please can the chicken mess be replaced before the next performance as it has gone mouldy". | Although there is nothing here to rival Mrs Malaprop, in the "Ways with words" section, Peter Macqueen managed to replace "ice" with "mice" in Hay Fever, and came up with the interesting near-spoonerism of "Chitty Chitty Bing Bong" in Some One Who'll Watch Over Me. One feels for poor Peter Vaughan, who "was unable to drink the milk as it had gone off" in Dumb Show, while other mishaps with "food and drink" included Matt Addis snapping the cork on a back-up bottle of champagne, and having to ad lib "sod the champagne, let's move on shall we?" while in Keep Smiling Through, "the porridge was a hard lumpy mess by the time Miss Saunders had to spoon it into a bowl". Also from Keep Smiling Through comes the plaintive note "please can the chicken mess be replaced before the next performance as it has gone mouldy". |
Michael Frayn's Noises Off had, suitably, the most mishaps, and in the general mayhem of the play, I doubt any of the audience noticed any of them – except possibly the owner of the zimmer frame which somebody had left out front and "Mr Vaughan knocked it whilst climbing onto the stage". Costume adjustment was of course a recurring problem – "Mr Power's trousers did not come down the first time on their own tonight; he had to tug them at the back to make them fall down"; "Mr Macqueen forgot to put his white boxer shorts on but fortunately was wearing his own when his trousers fell down."; "Mr Ingles split his trousers when he was trying to kick Mr Power's character in Act II after the lunge. Changed into spares in interval" and "Mr Vaughan didn't manage to get Miss Drummond's skirt down, but it looked ok as he was pulling on it for Miss Saunders's entrance." Audience participation added to one night: "One audience member had a very strange cough which was heard mostly in Act I and Act III – it sometimes sounded like a bark or a burp and one cast member said it sounded like a seal." David Ward's delightful Noisy Owls and Dead Nuns costs the ridiculously small sum of £2.50, with all profits going back to the theatre. It would be an adornment to any self-respecting loo library, and an excellent early stocking filler. Details on how to order copies can be found here. As David says | Michael Frayn's Noises Off had, suitably, the most mishaps, and in the general mayhem of the play, I doubt any of the audience noticed any of them – except possibly the owner of the zimmer frame which somebody had left out front and "Mr Vaughan knocked it whilst climbing onto the stage". Costume adjustment was of course a recurring problem – "Mr Power's trousers did not come down the first time on their own tonight; he had to tug them at the back to make them fall down"; "Mr Macqueen forgot to put his white boxer shorts on but fortunately was wearing his own when his trousers fell down."; "Mr Ingles split his trousers when he was trying to kick Mr Power's character in Act II after the lunge. Changed into spares in interval" and "Mr Vaughan didn't manage to get Miss Drummond's skirt down, but it looked ok as he was pulling on it for Miss Saunders's entrance." Audience participation added to one night: "One audience member had a very strange cough which was heard mostly in Act I and Act III – it sometimes sounded like a bark or a burp and one cast member said it sounded like a seal." David Ward's delightful Noisy Owls and Dead Nuns costs the ridiculously small sum of £2.50, with all profits going back to the theatre. It would be an adornment to any self-respecting loo library, and an excellent early stocking filler. Details on how to order copies can be found here. As David says |
| The reports prove, if nothing else, that theatre is live and that every show seen by every audience that departs into the Cumbrian night is different. | The reports prove, if nothing else, that theatre is live and that every show seen by every audience that departs into the Cumbrian night is different. |
| David is also author of Transformation, the excellent story of the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. | David is also author of Transformation, the excellent story of the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. |
| Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. | |
| Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. Enter your email address to subscribe. |