THE LONG WAY HOME, Jumaan Short
Monday 19 April 2010
The Long Blog Home
Like Old Mother and Dog Boy on their journey to Emblisi, on our travels around East Anglia we have also met many diverse and interesting people. We have experienced the kindness of strangers - locals often provide us with home-made cake and tea and help us sweep up at the end of the show (hint!), we have won gifts in raffles, (well, everybody but me), restaurants have stayed open for us (it took a lot of persuasion and we ate it in the Travelodge reception), local publicans have offered us drinks on-the-house, generating lively debates on the demise of the British Pub and Tiger Woods (OK, just one publican and it was more of an impassioned argument.)
Similarly we have offered help in return - mainly to broken-down vehicles along the country-lanes. Alright, I didn't exactly. Penny, James and Theo did. Well I'm not very good at pushing cars and it was pouring with rain and, after all, her husband was on his way. So not quite the A-Team, but the EA Team have been chugging along in that tough third gear. Susan and Will (Eastern Angles' new apprentice), actually protected us from a fight amongst travellers. There we were having a quiet, quick drink after one of our shows, and in tumbled several men attacking another with a mallet and mini-baseball bats. Will quickly shoved a chair in the way of them as they headed in our direction and Susan embraced Penny and I as if we were refugee children being torn from their mother's breast. James ran out the back-door and Theo blended in to the wall. Typical actors, they weren't even after us but we had to make it in to our own drama. Lucky I had our gun props in the back and Odessa's bandanna headscarf - we made a get-away alright.
We recently stayed in a B&B, which was somewhat particular. On arrival, we were welcomed by a vast collection of dolls. In the dining room, the reception room, corridors and bathrooms there were dolls of many kinds displayed for our pleasure. Now if it wasn't for all those freaky Chucky-style films, I would have quite happily embraced one of the dolls in my room and had a companion for the night (it would make a change), however still scarred by these films from childhood, I did my best to avoid eye contact with the creatures - sorry I mean dolls. However, they were placed, well everywhere so this was a pretty difficult thing to achieve. I eventually developed a half closed eye squinting look when wondering around the room. This seemed to do the trick. However, I had not noticed the piece de resistance - right in the centre of my huge four-poster bed was a tiny newborn baby doll, eyes shut enveloped in swaddling clothes. This one I feared the most - it's always the cutest, most innocent ones in the film that come alive and strangle you in the night. But I felt bad to smother it with a pillow - sorry I mean conceal it away from my direct vision, I mean after all it was a very pretty doll and I appreciated the collection, so instead I placed it at the very end of the bed and slept on the very other end of the bed with the light on. I awoke in the night, blurred vision, caught a glimpse of the child and thought I was Mary! Still as my senses returned, I thought - my little niece would love this place!
So after all these adventures, we have just finished one week at The Sir John Mills Theatre, Ipswich and boy has it been nice to settle for a while in one place and not have to unload and load the van every night. It also means my injuries from this activity have had time to heal. I may be getting stronger but I've certainly got a lot more bruises and cuts, I will never be a hand-model again. It's good we're back on the road on Tuesday though; I wouldn't want to miss out on anymore educational escapades. After all it's back home to London in a month and there's certainly less kindness to strangers there...
Jumaan Short
THE LONG WAY HOME: Jumaan Short
Thursday 11 March 2010
We have now performed the The Long Way Home in churches, village halls, theatres, studios, town halls, arts centres, and schools. This means we not only have to be highly skilled in adapting to new spaces as actors but also as stage technicians as part of our job is to build the set. The benefit of this detailed preparation in each new location, is that it prevents us from high-risk accidents. Of course we haven't had any accidents, no not once! (I did not hang that light upside down and Theo did not walk into that pole, Ivan.) In fact, since I'm now a trained techy professional myself, I will generously offer you some free, no-purchase-necessary advice as to how to be able to achieve such high standards.
To build the set you need a sparklingly clean Eastern Angles van, mountains, stars, bark, numerous lights, dangerous props - guns, a knife, an axe (yes it is a show for all the family but if anyone annoys me...) puppets, ladders and lots of other highly technical equipment. You also need to have a vast vocabulary of technical terminology such as: cue drum-roll: tripods, tri-lites and well mine ceases there, OK I lied I'm not really a pro.
However, the most essential ingredients are as follows: (I hope you are following at home a la Gordon Ramsay Cookalong Special) a fiercely strong stage-manager named Penny, an even stronger, gargantuan, muscle-flexing apprentice named Will and four heavyweight WWE wrestlers - THE CAST. This includes: THE GODMOTHER also known as Susan, CHARLIE BROWN - James, VIRGO CHIHUAHUA - that's Theo and JEKYLL & HYDE - myself. Like Popeye we have the combined strength to deliver without fail night after night and transform cold spaces into compelling arenas and that's before our performance! You also need a Theatre and Outreach Manager man named Jon who'd quite like another blog entry...around about now, or last week, please, ok?
Jumaan Short
THE LONG WAY HOME: Jumaan Short
Monday 15 February 2010
We have all had our own journey in these rehearsal weeks and every day has been different. Some days you leave exhausted but uplifted, others you leave reflecting on how much work there is still left to do. During phone conversations with friends I find myself talking in a loud voice using strange words that only my characters would use and I dream about flying houses, high-lighted lines, diagrams and scribbles on scripts. Nothing to worry about at all!
But, what this does mean, is, that it is that time - the start of the run is approaching and I am proud of what we have achieved and how we have brought to life such a lovely story. I only hope now that we will leave the audiences a little bit changed by our show, it's up to them now.
We have come a long way with The Long Way Home.
Jumaan Short
THE LONG WAY HOME: Jumaan Short
Thursday 04 February 2010
From dog to Dog Boy
Theo seems to have got some tips for his Dog-Boy character from my excellent, detailed description of Badge. In fact I am quite astonished by his increasing ability to dribble, wag his tail, bark, bite, present puppy-dog eyes and pee in inappropriate places. Some of these pedigree skills he didn't even need to work on. What talent!
Susan as Old Mother is becoming remarkably good at falling asleep in uncomfortable places and having that wise sparkle in her eyes. She always seems to know what's going to happen next and she's got a knack for comedy too - sometimes her skirt slowly drops to the floor, mid-speech. How does she do that?
James and I in our many roles can do everything. We can tell a great story, we can move entire houses with our bare hands, we can turn night in to day, bring life to puppets and occasionally remember when to speak and sing in tune all at the same time!
Well practice makes perfect, goodness me, what will we have achieved by next week?!
Jumaan Short
THE LONG WAY HOME: Jumaan Short
Monday 25 January 2010
Man’s Best Friend
They say a dog is man’s best friend, so, being a stranger in a new place, I was delighted to make the acquaintance of Badger the dog in my new residence. Although, Badger doesn’t see very well, at all, and doesn’t move very much, at all, so my first cooking venture in his company may have caused some offence to the poor creature.
In search of cooking tools in cupboards, Badge was sort of, well – in the way. Every cupboard I opened, he stood in front of and it became a gentle obstacle course of a bump, prod, push, shovel and budge routine around the kitchen. When at last the show was over, bows taken and curtains closed and I, exhausted, finally settled down to take a bite of my food, Badger came back with a barking encore and wouldn’t quieten. I feared our friendship was over and I would be spending the next 5 months sleeping on Eastern Angles’ stage floor. BUT, just as my fear became farewell and I, tearfully turned to pack my bags, Badge all of a sudden; galloped up behind me, (surely to mend my broken heart), but due to his poor vision, as I stopped, he crashed in to my ankles and collapsed, knocked-out-in-to-a-heap-on-my -feet and wouldn’t wake up, and wouldn’t move and wouldn’t budge SIGH and, well…the evening performance began…
Welcome to Eastern Angles Ipswich Week 1!
Jumaan Short
