SOME MONTHS ON!

SOME MONTHS ON............So, it's early December and we've been to Germany and England with what is now The Electra Legacy. We also took Romeo and Juliet and SNOW WHITE but I'll stick to talking about The Electra Legacy except to say none of us could really have predicted the tremendous success of SNOW WHITE. Wait. There's a lesson in this or a reminder. Don't discount as lesser or trivial something that brings joy to an audience. SNOW WHITE is witty and clever with good songs and choreography and it was delivered with great skill by a wonderful ensemble. That's why it was successful. And another thing for the record, Tayla was a consummate Wicked Queen.

Alright.Where were we? We departed from Tullamarine very confident that The ELECTRA Legacy had morphed into a very nice place...all of the bugs ironed out through a nine month process of trial and adjustment. The tour cast settled exceptionally well into their roles, especially Laura as Electra. I have to say she was truly magnificent....everyone really. The test would come in Dortmund, Stratford and later, then Wales.

Dortmund was amazing. We didn't really know what to expect, certainly not the outrageous hospitality and support. Imagine if you will arriving at the Castrop Rauxel Town Hall and being greeted by a large number of technical specialists from westfaelisches-landestheater installing lighting and sound. I just hope they realise how much we appreciated the degree of sheer professionalism. It made for a brilliant spectacle and a fine appreciation from the capacity audience of young people. Mark stole the show, but what of that. His songs are now so finely tuned and he lived each one of them. Highlights, 'Nothing Changes'...absolutely brilliant and "Trouble' The last monologue was spellbinding: you could hear a pin drop as the lights faded to blackout and then uproarious applause. On to England. Impossible to depict or write about the joyous nature of the tour. You did simply have to be there.

And so we arrive in Stratford Upon Avon.

I interview Rohan, how does he fell?

He tells me he's up for The Electra Legacy. How could he not be? This is Stratford Upon Avon! He'd been preparing all day and he was "in the zone". Actually, he'd been ( with a number of others ) to see Coriolanus at the RSC on the previous afternoon. He said "we are as good as them" He though for a brief moment and reflected, "well, we work as hard as them anyway." How brilliant and how true! This ensemble was to die for, every day! The show is excellent, it could hardly have been better in any way and the appreciation was most gratifying. We heard what we needed to hear ahead of our scheduled meeting in Edinburgh with the good folk from Paradise Green and The FRINGE office.

EDINBURGH on a sunny Tuesday morning directly opposite the Cafe in which Harry Potter was conceived. That's where our theatre for the Fringe Festival is located....slap bang in the middle of everything. The meeting went very much according to plan and we left feeling quite exhilarated. I have honestly never seen Mark and Lydia so animated. The space is perfect for both The ELECTRA Legacy and THAT BASTARD BRECHT ( more on BRECHT later ) It seats 110 and I believe profoundly that we will have a successful season over two weeks with 24 shows.

Last performance of The ELECTRA LEGACY in LANGTWIT MAJOR in Wales. What a beautiful town and wonderful hospitality and another superb show to finish the tour.

HOME now and there will be no further changes to The ELECTRA Legacy. In my view its a perfect piece of Epic Theatre...the love child of the collaborative team who crafted every word, movement and song. It's interesting. I'm probably not supposed to say that but I've been giving this a great deal of thought. Is it purely an Australian thing to understate the case? to play down what in fact should be celebrated and played up? I rather suspect it is and I'm personally over it. I'm intensely PROUD of my work and the work of my magnificent collaborators and the Nuworks: theatre made in australia family.

We started again last night with the EDINBURGH FRINGE ENSEMBLE....How wonderful to see all those who were not on tour with us and a little regret that some of those on the tour cannot come along this time. They've played their part for the moment in this magnificent adventure and we'll see them further down the line.

Meg began choreographing THAT BASTARD BRECHT as the band rehearsed in the small studio. Yes, this show will feature a very fine band of musicians. First indications? AWESOME, simply AWESOME!