Venue

Just heard that one of the Edinburgh venues I applied to has rejected my show. Not going to let it get me down. I have other irons in the fire. Now more determined than ever to make a success of the show so they will regret their decision and INVITE ME to perform it there next year! In my dreams?! Maybe. But you have to have dreams, don't you? And even more importantly, you have to follow them relentlessly.

Fundraising

Not doing very well with my sponsored slim so far. Having persuaded lots of people to sponsor me to lose 1lb a week for 14 weeks, I lost 0 lbs the first week and half a pound the second week. Well I suppose it's a start! And I've got 12 more weeks to catch up. Must try harder. Have booked a venue in Cambridge for "Venus and Mars the Quiz night" on Sunday 10th May, which will feature a short taster of the show and a quiz based around the various themes of gender communication, history, mythology etc. The venue is free as long as we buy drinks from the bar, so hopefully this will enable me to raise a bit of money towards Edinburgh.

Beds and Stages

Have booked accommodation in Edinburgh (4 bedroom flat for whole of August) and sent deposit. This is a little crazy considering I don’t yet have a venue for the show! Am in process of submitting venue applications in which this blog is mentioned as part of my marketing plan. Now the blog also mentions the venue applications, which is a neat reflection of the self-referring themes in the script. Michelle and I have booked preview performances at the ADC Theatre Cambridge on 23rd and 24th July. Her new play, Hayton on Homicide will be at 7.45pm on the Thursday, followed by Venus and Mars at 9.15pm, with the timeslots reversed on the Friday. We thought those who know us from WRiTEON would be more likely to come to both if they are on the same night. Perhaps we can each persuade our own friends to see each other's show too. So.....we are committed now - there's no going back!

Would you Adam and Eve it?

Meeting Adeleh in Starbucks later this week to discuss possibility of her designing the poster/leaflets. Want to base the design on a painting of Adam and Eve with cartoon style enhancements that tie in with the content of the show, as well as echoing the other publicity images I will be using. Will take my pink colander and my giant pink flower to show her.

Baby Pink Colander

Got my baby pink colander (I was right – “baby” refers to the shade of pink not the size). Tried it on and it fits me (just about) so hopefully it will be OK for Venus. It’s sitting on top of a pile of miscellaneous notebooks on my desk at the moment. Caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye and realised to my horror that it reminded me of the pink plastic potty I had as a small child. Oh dear!

Will I tell you a secret?

Am so excited about my clever costume idea but think I’d better keep it under my hat for now as don’t want anyone else to use it first. Suffice it to say that I have never seen anything quite like this done before (doesn’t mean it hasn’t been, just that I haven’t seen it). Did see a Candoco Dance Co piece recently in which a girl takes her knickers off and then takes them off again and again and it turns out she has lots of pairs on and just keeps taking off another and another. It was very effective. Well it’s not knickers. I think I’ve seen it done with masks too and maybe wigs (although there’s a limit to how many wigs you can wear on top of each other) but it’s not either of those either. And that’s all I’m saying. No, don’t ask me, I’m hopeless at keeping secrets!