"This is Living" drabbles by Neville Hunt
Hazardous!
This is Living #4
The production of Twelfth Night was a triumph! Well worth the low-grade pizza, long haul up the creepy path, shorthaul jets above, the drenching within and subsequent chill without, pessimistic horses and the prospect of the return on the ankle-testing, stone-strewn hill and hidden hazard of horse-shite.
Using torches, we navigated the hazards successfully, pinpointing the poo, sidestepping the stones until we reached our little river.
We thought of heroine Viola, actually drenched in Scene 1 from the shipwreck and Olivia, lying in a bath of water throughout Act 1!
Brrrrrrrrh!
Amazingly, their spirits remained undampened!
Cross
This is Living #3
Fearing that Twelfth Night was rather complicated, before pizzagate, I’d found a plot synopsis. Involving cross purposes, crossed wires, cross people and cross dressing, we both revised the plot like schoolkids and tested each other. We were ready to be put to the test!
We needn’t have worried. The imaginative staging ‘in the round’ and individual ‘sets” exploiting the venue’s geography made it easy to follow, and the amazing voice projection of the fabulous young cast did the rest... including drowning out incessant shorthaul jets preparing for landing directly above.
If engine noise be the food of love, play on!
Overdressed
This is Living #2
With no pizza van before our performance, it fell to me to burn some poor, shop-bought alternatives! Then we had to race up the steep, creepy hill to the theatre’s living venue. With my wife lagging leisurely behind, I reached the top field, eager for a theatrical delight. Some horses whinnied as I passed. Why the long faces? But being an optimist, I didn’t listen to those neighsayers. The show would be good! Even if my pizzas hadn’t been!
We were prepared.... overprepared! Blanket, torches, umbrellas, mackintoshes... and dressed for the Antarctic. No rain, but drenched from the inside...
Appointment and Disappointment
This is Living #1
The weather hasn’t been good round here recently. Rain was forecast for most days and nights. That’s great for the plants and crops. But not so good for our village open-air theatre. This summer’s production by The Living Theatre is Twelfth Night by Will Shakespeare, taking place on nine days across three weeks in July.
Keen to attend one of the performances, I checked the weather forecast for our village. Friday 21 July would be dry. Every night, before the performance, a van would there selling fresh pizzas. Yummee!
Every night... except the 21st!
Wouldn’t you just know it!....
