Today we had our first day of Development of the play ‘Shoot Doris Day’ by Katherine Chandler. THe morning started in the common room of Chapter arts - once a school in the heart of Canton Cardiff. The atmosphere of the room that was once a classroom certainly had a feeling of readiness to get working on the world that Katherine had created. Our first task was to introduce ourselves - between the team at Pentabus, the Sherman, Pentabus, the actors and myself who has been given the task of assisting Kate during this week we were 14 in total. Phew!
We then read through the play with the actors, Garnon Davies, Matthew Aubrey, Helen Griffin and Ri Richards. The humour and shifts within the story were brought to life and we all agreed that hearing the play for the first time was exciting and provocative.

When we came back from lunch Kath came in all of a flutter as she’d just bumped into Gruff from the Super Furry Animals in the Café downstairs – Their song ‘Shoot Doris Day’ had inspired the title of the play and we were all quite amused at this little coincidence.

The afternoon started with the actors mining the play for questions from their characters perspectives. How come this happens or what does this mean etc. These questions formed the basis of our exploration work. We read though each scene and at the end asked the questions and shared any thoughts. There were many revelations – I think the most shocking one was about Father Dulty. ‘Well I never!’ We all proclaimed… It was great to work in this way – it provoked anecdotes about teenagers on mobility scooters and recollections of stories from the media about the treatment of people with learning disabilities. Our experiences became pertinent as the play opens itself to making connections with real people in real places. Our focus and main discovery was the development of the sub plot – or more accurately the story that we don’t see but hear about through the character Carl. We agreed that this had a huge impact on the timeline of the play and would influence Carls’ intentions into the story that we do see. An interesting exercise was when the actors had to talk about their character in the third person as a means of seeing what really hit home from their reading of the play – it was great to hear this and the plan is to ask again in a few days to see what has changed.

-Written by Julia Wyndham, Assistant Director

Monday afternoon. I arrived back in London in the very early hours of the morning, with a car packed full of soggy props, mud clogged wellies and a couple of very tired, but happy people. We nearly didn’t make it home at all actually, as my poor old car got stuck in the mud on the way out of the festival car park. At midnight last night, 2 of the May Fair gang had to get out of the car and push it out of the deep trenches of mud left by previous cars. Sorry guys. Not the ideal start to a long journey. Particularly as their pushing efforts were rewarded by a covering of yet another layer of mud as the wheels spun. But as mud was something we had to get used to this weekend, they took this in their stride. As I write, the rest of the company are on a bus, heading back to London themselves. Latitude is done! What an incredible time we have had these past two weeks. Epic, I would even say. I will attempt to share the last few days here.

Wednesday: Our last day in rehearsals in Shepherds Bush, where we decided to get a flavour of what it was like to perform outside by doing a run through on the green. It was a really useful thing to do, just to get a sense of what we might be up against at Latitude-wind, rain, noise, people coming and going, uneven floors, unpredictable audiences……Orla had come into rehearsals the day before (bringing with her all kinds of delicious baked goods) and given us some brilliant  things to think about, so it was good to test things out in an outdoor environment. Of course, we would not know the exact nature of the space until we got to the festival, so it has been really important as we have got to know the show to keep open, flexible and adaptable, and not to get too fixed on doing it a certain way, as it would almost certainly have to change once we got there!

After our outdoor run, it was all about logistics. Who would take the 200 little yellow plastic ducks for our hook-a-duck stall? Who could fit a hat stand in their car? How would we get a massive suitcase full of clown props down to our departure point? What time was the bus going? What time would we all need to meet in order to get our tents up and props ready in time for our tech? An exercise in precision timing. Finally, after distributing props, costume, spare tents and sleeping bags throughout the company, we all left to go and pack before our departure in the morning.

Thursday: A threatening sky, but no rain. A phone call from Olly Hawes to say all were present and correct and that nobody had missed the bus. Excellent start. I was driving down with the car full of camping paraphernalia and May Fair set. I had no idea how much one needed in order to camp. It took me about 3 hours to load the car with all our stuff. Ridiculous. But, not having camped since I was 12, I had decided it was better to be over, than under-prepared. Head torches? Yes. Certainly.  Not one, but two. Loo roll? but of course. Bin bags? Only a fool would forget them. Jumpers? Approximately 17. Waterproofs? Plentiful. A last minute purchase of a pair of waterproof trousers had invited laughter from those around me, but let me tell you, they were the best thing I could have possibly brought with me this particular weekend.

About half way into our journey, the heavens opened. Pouring rain. Arrived onsite to see hundreds of people already marching around in mud clogged wellies, defiantly wading through puddles carrying sleeping bags and tents. Got lost as people wearing offical high vis jackets consulted maps and each told us different directions. Got stuck in the mud up a hill. Panicked. Had to get a couple of Latitude staff to help push me out. Drove to the performer campsite.Realised we needed our wristbands before we would be allowed into the site. Got a golf buggy back to the artists entrance. Got a decent covering of mud in the process. (sense a running theme yet?) Got wristbands. Got golf buggy back to campsite. Rest of May Fair team already setting up camp, so joined them in setting up in the rain. Rain then cleared as we gathered what was needed for our tech. Headed through the festival to discover the outdoor theatre, which turned out to be the most lovely space, a stage nestled in trees, amidst a wood where all kinds of exciting things were beginning to appear. Had an hour tech (fortunately it had stopped raining) which gave us time to plan our routes, plot the where our various locations would be, test the sound and see what it felt like to act in the space. Radio mics were very quickly decided upon, as the air carries the voice so easily that audiences would not have heard a thing otherwise. Tech done, it was an evening spent getting to know our surroundings, and soaking up the festival spirit.

Friday: Sunshine! Glorious, beautiful sunshine! Our magnificent clown, Dan Wilder, arrived this morning, and so the morning was spent at the top of the field where we were staying,rehearsing Joe Harbot’s piece about the May Fair clown, much to the amusement of new arrivals (balloon animals, miles of bunting appearing from nowhere, custard pies, spinning plates etc, you name it, we had it in our suitcase!). Then it was down to the outdoor theatre for our first show at 2pm. A lovely crowd, and an adrenaline fueled first show-it is a funny thing performing in a space you have not had time to get used to before, so it really was just a case of turning up and doing it! The company were brilliant, and audience response was lovely, but it was important to spend time after the show talking about what worked in the space, what didn’t, what to try differently in show 2. What really felt great was that this was a piece that people could easily wander in and out of, and catch a glimpse of something happening. After our feedback session, it was a chance to go and explore the festival again, which was bursting full of things to see, and people to bump into-the bush, paines plough, nabokov, theatre 503, hightide, the lyric, the opera group, clean break, fuel…the list goes on of companies to see and shows to watch!

Saturday: Rain. Relentless driving rain, the kind that makes you feel like you have had a shower after 30 seconds of being in it. We awoke to the sound of it on our tents, and it did not stop until tea time that day. Fortunately, we did not have a show today, so we didn’t need to worry about how to do it, let alone how to get an audience in an outdoor uncovered space in the torrential rain. But walking through the festival, people dealt with the rain pretty well, I guess living in the UK it is inevitable. And yes, the waterproof trousers were on all day and yes they were great, and I can only assume envied by those in the May Fair company who were without such an item.

Sunday: Rain. torrential rain. No wait, glorious sunshine, no, no, my mistake, driving rain again. This blog might be pre-occupied with the weather, but when camping and performing without cover, it is understandably at the forefront of one’s mind. Which one would we get for our evening show? A beautiful summers eve? or a bit of a flood? No time to think about that, as today was all about hook-a-duck, and diving into the festival with our makeshift stall. After getting borrowing buckets and bottles from various places around the festival, we blew up a big paddling pool, filled it with water and loads of plastic yellow ducks. We then spent some happy times playing hook-a-duck with festival go-ers, while Dan made balloon animals and did magic tricks for the youngsters. And then it was set up time for our 2nd and final show. And predictably, the heavens kept open as we set up in the soaking wet. costumes had to be quickly modified, wellies now part of all the action, lines changed to accommodate costume changes, journeys modified to avoid slipping and falling in the mud…..hats off to our wonderful company, as they all just got on with it and got stuck in, rain or no rain, we would make this show a cracker!

So we started. In the rain. With about 8 people in the audience. And then, gradually, as the show unfolded, the rain stopped, the sun came out, and people started to wander in. By the end of the show, we had a really lovely crowd and very warm response to the show. And actually, I thought something really came together in a way it had not yet before, in a way perhaps helped by the rain, there was a freedom, a spontaneous, joyful spirit to the performance, as actors really found their home in the space and made the different stories from our fabulous May Fair writers really fly. So what if our helium balloons had deflated so much with the wind and rain we couldnt use them? So what if our air horn didn’t work? So what if our maypole was dripping wet? None of this seemed to matter at all. What mattered was that I think we managed to deliver something of the May Fair to Latitude, and that the festival worked its own magic on us, and I feel really proud of the company, who threw themselves entirely into the experience. For our Latitude debut, I think we did ourselves proud. And as a result, have learnt so much about what it is to make theatre for that kind of an event, in that kind of an environment. Come rain or shine.

And so there we are. We ended the festival watching Eels play the crowds, with people in various wet weather gear, dancing in a crowded and happy tent.