I'm not really in the habit of pouring myself a first glass of wine at 11:15pm but I figure I can make an exception given the circumstances.

An almost dress rehearsal tonight. Real dress is Thursday but this was dress in waiting I suppose.

Getting started was again like herding cats. I feel so sorry for all those that are left patiently and endlessly waiting around. But we began in the end. And finished in the end as we're currently (how can this be with such a tightly written script??) running fifteen minutes over time.

And all things considered, it went pretty well. There were a thousand small things wrong with it. Though Karen was mostly perfect. I wonder suddenly if all shows should be rehearsed with only 2 weeks to go. I start to see how professionals get away with it as it's a wonderful focus for the mind.

But actually, if you put aside all the people not coming on when they're supposed to, cursing themselves for forgetting lines, Jo cursing me for introducing music into the equation and thus inducing him to forget every line he ever learnt, overlooked and underused props (those that haven't been stolen at any rate), then my goodness, we've got ourselves a pretty good show.

Enhanced by Jo's (pregnant) daughter Nikki's sterling work on distressing the body bags.

A couple of them even choked out a few tears tonight. I almost thought I might weep myself at a couple of points. But perhaps that wasn't so much to do with the acting. But I have high hopes for next week.

I hope at least that we can do Mr McCafferty - and I should really mention Mr Sophocles too - some kind of justice.