A Broad Abroad - A Fantastic One Woman Act

I said a few weeks ago that I work well under pressure. Well this week was certainly a real test for just how well I can work under pressure.

We received a last-minute request from a Norwegian teacher who was in Rome this weekend with her 28 students and wanted to see a performance. Not to miss an opportunity, Gaby made the decision to put on her one woman show - A Broad Abroad.

This meant we were working under immense pressure. It was mine and Gaby's duty to put on a great show for these students with only 3 days to work. First thing first - print out the script and read over the lines with Gaby. I admire her on the-spot-thinking to put on the show and grasp the opportunity. I created a sound track, designed lights and we managed to run a tech-rehearsal in the 3 short days we had. I have learnt how to use colour in light to create specific ambiance which was important for this show to depict the difference countries. For example we used a directed, long straight blue light at the front to create a New York Subway, and a red hue for the Japanese story.  I thoroughly enjoyed working on this show and liked the intimacy of just working with one other person.

We set the stage with things accumulated from travels and directed a central light effect

A strong red lighting for a story of a Zen Monk

The show went really well, the students thoroughly enjoyed it and the teacher was incredibly grateful. From an audience perspective and in terms of content - this was my favourite performance. It was the sort of humour and style I would like to see at the theatre - true, bizarre stories with humour, and sincerity.