The One with the Theatre Hours

This weekend marks the beginning of show week!


The expression "Darling it's show week!" is enough to strike fear and dread into the hearts and minds of the non theatrical partner of a thespian who is finally putting on their lovingly rehearsed show!


I'm an old hand (or maybe that should be an old ham?) at Am Dram and have been doing it for years. Hubby, however, is not of a theatrical bent and suffers in good natured silence when I swan off  down the theatre for what seems like days on end to do the technical run, the dress rehearsal and all the performances.


Show week is all consuming and nothing in the home gets done. No housework, no cooking, no washing, no ironing. Nothing! The plays the thing and that's that!


Of course this is my first show week since having the boy!


I have no idea how that is going to go!


The show's run is only from Wednesday to Saturday but still I have booked a days holiday off work on Friday and called in a lot of favours from hubby and Nanny P!


Today was the first acid test! The tech run!


For those not versed in the ways of the theatre and therefore not initiated in the evils of the technical rehearsal this is when you run the play so the technical crew (who are largely unsung yet very, very hard working) get to practice all their lighting and sound cues, scenery and prop changes and the cast get to do any quick costume changes. It's basically all the things that could go wrong other than forgetting your lines!


As you can imagine, with all those technical things to practice this rehearsal means an awful lot of stopping and starting and hanging around.


I left the house today just after lunch and got home around 9.30pm (which as techs go isn't that bad) so first hurdle done. Hubby was his usual unflappable self and coped admirably with the tea, bath, supper, bottle, bedtime routine but I couldn't help feeling guilty that I wasn't there!


As it stands the only night I will be around for bedtime is Tuesday and as I sit here munching my snacks and drinking wine I realise that something else is making me feel guilty.


I suit theatre hours! In fact I love them! 


I always have. Long before I had the boy and I used to act a lot, often rehearsing a couple of shows at a time, I knew "Hey fiddly dee, an actors life for me!"


My body naturally doesn't want to wake up, let alone get up, before 9 or even 10 am!


Then I like a snooze in the afternoon. 


After that I come alive in the evening, just in time to do the show and then when it's all over I get peckish and want to have a meal and a glass of wine with the cast and friends.


None of which is conducive to parenthood and the hours you have to keep as a mother!


So as a test just look up famous actors and see how many of them have actually had children and if so how many have had more than one!


It's not many I can assure you.


Blooming selfish lot us actors.


Good job for me it's only a week hey!