However I still cannot help but feel disappointed and underwhelmed by my experience with the play, mainly of course because my McVay scene was cut completely due to timing reasons, which is a shame is it has been quite a pleasant experience up until then. But I do think some room could still have been made for it, and the concerns over the lack of projection for my scene partner Sabina I think are somewhat irrelevant as I heard feedback from people I knew that some of the cast couldn't be heard that well either. I would never insult anyone in the cast though as its very bad form to do that, although I do think certain scenes were stronger than others, and just perhaps if one or two were dropped they wouldn't necessarily be missed. I don't say that to be nasty, but overall even with the cuts that were made to the play, it was still a bit too long as it still ran for about 2 hours and 30 minutes.
And to have my scene cut from the play on the day of the opening night just made me feel so demoralised, and it hardly instills you with a lot of confidence when you go on. It just starts to feel like a thankless task. But I guess no matter how small the part, there is always the chance audience members can still pick up on the nice little details from the smaller parts, and I did hear a nice bit of feedback to that effect about the McVays last night. In a way the smaller parts can be a lot more fun, which I actually found to my pleasure when we did Measure for Measure at the Ramshorn. It is difficult to cater for a large cast and to please everyone, but I also think with this play there was a lack of preparation and organisation, if they could have managed to run a few full rehearsals beforehand it would have allowed to see what scenes could stay or go. The play itself had 25 scenes, and overall that's just way too many.
Despite my disappointments there were still some really good moments in the play and fine scenes. Some of the favourites included Martin Haddow's monologue as Maynard, a crazed skinhead who rants about politics and fighting strangers, and without a doubt has my favourite line in the play "you just keep taking the cuts! Cuts cuts cuts CUNTS!!!" (forgive the language). Just think of an intellectual Bebgie and that's you there. Other scenes such as the chip shop scene with the phoney Italian Girgio were very funny, which ends with the two girls Dora and Lana rowing with each which was also funny and got the biggest laugh from the audience. Marianna Mok's monologue as the Chinese girl Wing, was also funny too as she observes the differences between Chinese and British cultures. Also the scene between the mother and daughter, Brenda and Carol respectively was very funny too with some great dialogue from Carol (play by Valerie) who says to her mother "your tits look like two pages torn out of an F2 jotter!". Of course the opening scene with the young couple Cathy and Mike, who are both ill with malnutrition and are lying in bed is quite powerful albeit very heavy going, but both Stewart and Jennifer give great performances. I also quite liked my short scenes with the McVays, unfortunately one of them was cut too due to a lack of preparation and rehearsal. But of course ironically the scene I enjoyed most that I was in was the disco scene with the DJ Bonkers and all the cast on the floor dancing away. I hated rehearsing that scene but on stage it was alot of fun to do as it gave you more room to improvise and interact with the cast.
But that's it over now and no doubt Estrado will be regrouping to start looking at their next production, so I will wait and see how that goes. In the meantime we'll await the reviews of the play as some reviewers came along to see it on the Saturday performances, from the List and the Skinny and possibly one or two others. I'm not too fussed if we get negative reviews but obviously it would be nice for the cast and crew if it is well received by the critics. And that'll do it.
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