Lear - 1st dress rehearsal.

I'm very pleased with the way it went from our point of view. The 1st half is easier in some ways because most things are made to measure, and sort of 18th century. Part 2 is trickier - where is this “Beckettland”!? Vaguely early 20th Century crossed with old style Royal Court trampy realism. You know when you hit it, but it's very easy to miss.

Some pictures didn't load, I'll have another go.
Jonno Roberts - Edmund
Jay Whittaker
Edgar
and Charlie Janasz as the very dysfunctional Gloucesters.

Lear Tech 3 & 4

We finished the tech last night in good time, so we will have a run through tonight, and actually get home an hour early at midnight instead of 1am. I'm beginning to get used to it, but despite looking forward to being at home, I thing the jet-lag is lightly to be fairly grim!
I haven't discovered how to label the individual pix yet, so I'm sorry if I've missed out some of the actor's names.
But it's a wonderful cast and I do thing Adrian has done a terrific job - I never understood quite why it was such a great play before.
Not surprisingly the management doesn't want any costumed rehearsal pix on anyone's Facebook page - which has been happening. It's lovely that everyone likes their costumes so much, but I can see Management's point.

Lear Tech 2

The tech continues on its merry way - a tremendous storm for Lear on the blasted heath, a fine 'coup de theatre' for Jay Whittaker as Edgar as Mad Tom.
“Poor Tom's a-cold” he says quite often, and so were the rest of us. 5 hours on the most unforgiving seats in cold so damp that we might have been in the Highlands of Scotland.
2 techs down, another 13 to go!

Lear Tech 1

It went very well actually, and I am very pleased with the costumes so far, and Ralph's Autumn leaves look wonderful. Also the photos are better than usual, mostly, I think because of Alan's very sparing use of follow spots - which are too much for my camera.

Lear- Bob Foxworth
Goneril - Emily Swallow
Regan - Aubrey Saverino
Kent - Joseph Marcell
Fool - Bruce Turk.
Albany - Don Carrier.

At the Zoo

Yesterday I went to the San Diego Zoo. I should have taken the advise offered and gone at 9AM as it was very crowded by 11. I only saw about a 1/4 of it - it is huge. - was a bit disappointed at first, as the bird cages seemed awfully small, but it all opened out into big enclosures which were much less worrying. I must go back for the pandas and Polar bears, and the sky-train.

Then went out in the evening to look at a sunset, but got lost again trying to get to the western coast by Sunset cliffs, but thought the pearly light over the harbour very beautiful. It is extraordinary here, I had this view to myself until a man and his dog came by, not 5 minutes from the airport, which is itself within sight of downtown San Diego.

More Fittings

Some more fittings - we start the Lear tech tomorrow, so will be entering a new way of being here. Because of the light, costume work doesn't start till 7.30PM and the call finishes at 12.30, and then technical notes! At least I shall be able to call the UK before I go to bed knowing that folk, well Maxwell will be up.
It's going to be tough till I get used to it, like moving to a new time-zone somewhere in the middle of the Pacific. Here we hit the down-side of doing all 3 shows, no nights off, except Mondays till I leave!
We will carry on with the last fittings in the afternoons, and here are a few that we did last week. In the right fabric at last.
Top 2 Bianca's Wedding. [Bree Welch]
Vincentio
[Craig Dudley] and from Lear, in rather more restrained mode, Aubrey Saverino as Regan and Emily Swallow as Goneril.

Palm Springs Story

Before Christmas I got an email from someone called Joe Tompkins who lived in Palm Springs explaining that he had found an old sketchbook of mine while tidying out a cupboard in the costume dept at Universal Pictures. The only clue that connected it to me was a note against one sketch which said “Goldie's own“ so a researcher friend had looked up Goldie Hawn's films online, and come up with my name as designer for ”The Girl from Petrovka“. [I had only done the European location stuff for the film, not being allowed to go to Hollywood because of not having a union ticket - but had still been credited with the costume design] So Joe Googled around, found my website and emailed!
When I got to San Diego, seeing that Palm Springs was within driving distance at 140 miles, I got in touch with Joe who invited me over to stay the night. And so I did..
The drive was OK and did much to cure my nerves about driving here. I went through very varied scenery, from orange groves to mountains, past an industrial zone with a 1/4 of a mile long freight train, [where each container seemed about the size of our cottage] through mountains again, past thousand of wind-farm windmills and coming upon the desert very suddenly.
On arrival at Joe's house I was immediately whisked off to lunch - what turned out to be a Mothers' Day buffet at the Palm Springs golf club. Joe had gathered together 7 chaps who were, I thing all associated with costume in some form or other, either designing, film costumer, or teaching the subject in Los Angeles. It was a lot of fun, and it was flattering to be told that Alan, the professor from the design dept in LA had been showing my quite scrappy little sketch book to his graduate students!
In the afternoon Joe took be to see some of the sights, including the old theatre, where the Palm Springs Follies, all ex-pros well into their 70s who could still do the splits and high kicks, were wont to perform, Liberace's house, one of Bob Hope's many houses, and the spectacular desert in a raging wind storm.

Next day we sat and chatted, I looked some more at Joe's collection of delightful painted wood figurines, and drove back to San Diego.. I hope he will be able to come to 1 or 2 of the shows here, must email possible dates.

A day off

I had a very restful day today, though may go to the Art shop in a bit. There is a small pool at Laurel Park apartments, and a terrific hot spa tub, and today I both swam and poached. Great for aches and pains, since it is kept as hot as a bath!

Last night one of the actors had a party at the flats were most of the out of town actors live.
Everyone very welcoming, no sense of that Brit thing of not being certain if you can join their gang... Took apple juice which is available in enormous flagons, and some bananas.

In the morning I went to the San Diego Quaker meeting and was delighted by this sign.
Back to work tomorrow.