After my brief dalliance with the acting world while volunteering as an extra during Dining with Alice, I decided to investigate the possibility of furthering my amateur theatre career. A few months ago I joined the Maddermarket Theatre Company and worked as assistant stage manager on my first production, Agatha Christie's The Hollow. The Maddermarket is a very small theatre, with about 300 seats and has been around since the 1920s, despite its Tudor appearance.
The Hollow was adapted by Christie from her novel of the same name. Allegedly, Christie was not happy with Poirot's appearance in this particular novel and thus she wrote him out of the play, replacing him instead with Scotland Yard's Inspector Colquhoun. Otherwise, the Hollow is your typical Christie murder mystery, unfolding slowly, with many characters each with their own agenda. With a single static set, the attention is directed firmly to each character, allowing the audience to examine their interactions with the other characters, and their potential motivations. What I wasn't prepared for was the humour. Quite frankly, the Hollow was very funny. Largely due to the enigmatic Lady Angkatell, but also due to the suspense building up upon watching it. Many an audience member let out a nervous laugh after a particularly surprising death scene.
My responsibilities during the play were mostly preparing the set before every rehearsal and performance, and during the interval, and coordinating the many many props used for each scene. Another somewhat fun job every show was having to fire the gun that kills the unfortunate John Cristow, a job I took to with a fair bit of relish! Since The Hollow finished, I've been catching up with sleep after a hectic schedule, helping with the lighting for a couple of nights on the next production, Guys and Dolls, and looking forward to the huge winter production of A Christmas Carol....oh and successful grading for my brown belt in karate. All in all a busy summer!
