Sometimes you MUST laugh.

HAMLET is open - we travelled to Geneva, NY, driving all day last Thursday, doing workshops and rehearsals on Friday and part of Saturday, then performed Saturday night.The performance was less than stellar for reasons we could neither have anticipated nor controlled.
See, we were booked as the end of the day's activity for the "move in" day for a sorta-pricey college in upstate NY. Performers from the college were to perform as the players in the "play within the play", and the choir would underscore the end of the show and sing a prologue. All that worked well - good kids, fine stuff, could've used more rehearsal but can't we all...

See, we performed before this huge gothic style building facing an immense quad. We were lavalier mic'd within an inch of our lives, so there'd be no problem hearing anything, BUT... the show was scheduled to start at 6:30. They'd scheduled a campus-wide free barbeque at 5:45. Thus, there were about 1,000 people on the quad when the show started who had no interest in the show whatsoever, and had no interest in letting it go on peacefully. Trucks were coming in to load the barbeque equipment. Actually, it wasn't as bad as that all sounds, but it was bad. The first 1/4 to 1/2 of HAMLET, our first performance, became pretty much about us kinda speeding through and totally eliminating any real audience involvement until the roar quieted.

Once the plebes left, however, it was pretty great. I mean, come on, it is a good play that ends with a series of not one, not two, but THREE swordfights after or during which everyone dies? The improv group we worked with was a talented if a touch ADD addled group of kids, while the choir was simply spot on. We weren't entirely in total sync at the end for what we'd all had in mind, but it didn't affect anything even one little bit.

So, while it still feels like a victory, it is a hard won victory at best, with casualties.

Lessons learned.

Actors... check out either
www.cafepress.com/saytheline
or
www.cafepress.com/hamlet2002