Well, back in London I am again. Briefly. Despite only getting back from Edinburgh on Saturday evening, it feels a million years ago. Lots to report. My last entry kinda left things on a cliff hanger, as we awaited to hear about Harry’s condition. The days unfolded as follows…..I might have to do a part one and a part two as such a lot happened.
Part One.
Wednesday-phone call from Caroline to say Harry had gone into hospital. I called up the Pleasance and cancelled the next three shows. Joseph and Joni went to visit him that afternoon, just before he went into surgery. They kindly took a photo of him in his hospital bed, (which I may or may not try and sneak onto the blog without Harry knowing). I arrived back into Edinburgh later that day, and everyone was kind of hovering around, not wanting to commit themselves to a show in case there was any news. He got out of surgery later that afternoon and Damian and I went to visit him in the evening. We both got a bit of a shock actually, he was pale and groggy and obviously in a lot of pain. No one would tell us how long the recovery period would be, but from one look at him we could tell he would not be back by Saturday (which is when we had optimistically thought he might be).

Back at our accommodation, everyone was wracking their brains as to solutions. Do we cancel the show completely? Can we find a replacement? Who on earth would be brave/foolish enough to step into a role at such short notice, with no time for rehearsal?

Thursday-Orla arrived back in Edinburgh and crisis talks continued. No idea still when, or if, Harry would be back for Edinburgh, or even for Shrewsbury. Weird limbo. Amidst all of this, we were having to cast and plan our rehearsed readings of PIGS, which were happening on Monday. So we were finding and calling actors who to come and read for us. We happily found Harry Hepple (who was in Been So Long at the Traverse, Sam Taylor (from Analogue’s show Beachy Head which was on immediately after Origins in the King Dome. More of him later) and Lara Stubbs (in Barbershopera) who were all wonderful and willing to get on board. The Origins company would all be reading too, which in a way was a good thing as it gave us something to focus on.
We were all wracking our brains to think of people who, worst case scenario, we might approach to stand in to play Charles Darwin.

Friday-The worst case scenario was confirmed. We had kind of all on some level realized this, but today the doctors said that Harry would need a couple of weeks to fully recover. Edinburgh was out. He would need to go home and recover in time for Shrewsbury. Poor Harry. So, what on earth did this mean for Origins? Ironically, the morning this was decided, we got another 4 star review, this time in the Metro, and we had just found out that the British Council were interested in making the show a Plat Du Jour for the Showcase. As the old cliché goes, the show must go on. In whatever way it could. Today also saw our first readthrough of all the PIGS plays, which went really well, the 5 plays complimented each other nicely and the actors were all marvelous. Phew. We would not touch these again until Monday morning, as our hunt for Charles Darwin continued. But not for much longer. By Friday evening, a solution had presented itself in the form of the courageous Sam Taylor, who was willing to step into the breach and play Charles Darwin.

Next step, working out how this would all work. The Pleasance very kindly let us go into the space early morning, as well as using our slot to rehearse. Before Friday, Sam had not seen, or read the play. On Sunday, he would go on as Charles Darwin. Between now and then, we had a couple of hours in the morning, and a couple of hours in the afternoon, to rehearse him in. A daunting prospect for all involved, but everyone was totally focused on making this work.

Saturday-We got into the space in the morning to work out how the puppetry might now work without Harry as lead puppeteer. The cast were quite frankly amazing in how they adapted and solved any problems that Harry’s absence threw up. Then it became about how our temporary Charles would slot in. Would he sit and read? Or stand in the middle of the stage? Would he take part in any of the action? Quite wonderfully, the structure of the play sees Charles often as a fixed point, with things happening to, and around him, so that he is shifted from place to place. We soon learnt that if Sam stood centrally, the rest of the cast could quite easily maneuvere him around the stage to where he needed to be. The fact that Charles is baffled and surprised at each event that occurs to him, was all in Sam’s favour, as he too knew nothing at what was happening from one minute to the next! What was so incredible was how calm, supportive and practical everyone was during this potential madness. Never once did panic and fear (which I know everyone was feeling on some level) threaten to take over. Together, the company and Orla found ways of integrating Sam into the action-giving him croquet mallets, putting hats on him, etc. Amazing how little time he had had with the script how much he was able to do physically.

Sunday- We used the morning as a dress rehearsal. Because 4 shows had been cancelled, and therefore no flyering presence out and about, we were all prepared for a quiet audience. Not so. As 3.30pm neared, and people began to queue, we realized that this quite possibly could be our biggest audience yet! Eek. What followed I think was beyond anything I had experienced before. I can’t quite describe the feeling. Orla put it quite well. She said that we were sort of bringing to reality every actor’s worst nightmare, you know the one where they turn up and have to go onstage without knowing any of their lines, or what they are doing. I was terrified just thinking about that. For Sam, this was actually happening. Joseph made an announcement at the top of the show, and from that moment I knew we were in for a pretty special event, as the support and encouragement from the audience was immense. The company did the most remarkable job. It was quite emotional actually, being part of that audience on that day. Moments within the show suddenly took on an extra resonance as Sam’s journey of not knowing what was happening next totally echoed Charles’s! What everyone had managed to achieve in such a short amount of time was just so impressive. And we had a version of the show that we could continue with into our final week. There is a moment towards the end of the show where Charles sits an exam, and as he writes, we hear him speaking. Of course, this recorded voice is not Sam’s but Harry’s. It felt strangely moving to watch Sam, but to hear Harry. Despite him being at home recovering, he was still part of the show. I liked that.