An Opportunity and a half! Rehearsal eavesdropping!

So anyway, the long and the short of it is those lovely people at the Library Theatre either liked what I wrote, or were getting desperate, and I got asked to be one of four Guest Bloggers for them. What this was to involve was attending a rehearsal of Hard Times, and writing about it for publication on their theatre blogsite. And then later attending a dress rehearsal of the full show and blogging again. I was beyond thrilled to be given the opportunity, but nervous too as it was way outside my comfort zone.

The first of these two events was the rehearsal that I attended on 9th May. It was a fascinating experience seeing the process first hand. I've read a lot about the theatre, and even trod the boards in a very small capacity as part of a project at the Royal Exchange last year, but this is the first time I have had the privilege to see behind the scenes of a professional company. There was so much to absorb, I could have stayed there for days. I do wish I could have relaxed a bit more though. Everyone was very welcoming considering I was trespassing on their territory, and I usually manage a good approximation of appearing confident even when I'm not, so I'm not sure why I decided to go for the terrified look every time someone spoke to me!

I stayed for around three hours, and then headed for the station with my head spinning with thoughts and ideas of what I could write. I actually started on the train home, and then as soon as I got home I rushed upstairs to my computer to make a start at trying to put all that 'stuff' into some coherent form. And funnily enough, although I was absolutely exhausted by the time I had finished, I really enjoyed the experience, and was quite pleased with the end result. I'll post the actual blog as a separate entry - but if you head on over to the Library Theatre's Blog you can read mine and my fellow blogger's efforts - I find it interesting that we all picked up on different things even though we were essentially watching the same process.