2006-08-02 - 10:22 a.m.

We did the preview on Sunday night. It was...satisfactory. The audience consisted of friends and family and as such their opinions were virtually worthless. Insofar as none of them are going to say the thing was a bit shit. Still, useful to do the thing in front of an audience before trekking up to Edinburgh.

The following morning, and the next in the succession of potential disasters that I spend most nights imagining visiting this production - cf: actors being taken ill; double booked venue; deathtrap accommodation; travel crises; freak tornado; audience contempt - this being that the van taking the set up to Edinburgh wouldn't turn up, or if it did, it'd be two inches to short to take the load. But it did turn up. And it was big enough.

The driver and his mate were fantastic. Friendly, helpful...I'm not suggesting Paradise Syndrome was setting in here but you get the picture. Inevitably, Lee was a fat bloke and Steve was skinny. All pairs of Britsh workmen are issued in this format. One fat, one thin. Two beanpoles or two big fellas...that's against God and nature. It's got to be a fat bloke and his wiry mate.

"Is there a lot of stuff, mate?" asked Lee.
"No, it should just take ten minutes to load" I reassured him.
"Great. Where are we going?"

Now, I was a little unsure how to respond. Was he asking me for the delivery address? Surely he'd been given that by the office? And if not, he didn't need the exact address now, did he? Or did he mean...no, he couldn't mean where are we going as in which city?

"Edinburgh." I said. "Did they not tell you?"
"No mate."

This was fantastic. Imagine doing a pick-up in south London with no idea if you were doing a ten minute nip to Brixton or an 8-hour arse-numbing run to another country. They took it in the stride, though, and at around 9 that night we met again outside the venue in Scotchland, Europe.

So if you're waiting for the bit that went horribly wrong, that's kind of what's worrying me. Cos so am I.

Our first performance is at 4.30 this afternoon.

Profilage - Previosity - Nextitude