First day with the whole cast (shock!).

First day in the venue.

First day with the band in front of the actors. And the actors in front of the band. Presenting music, much of which no-one beyond the band themselves had ever heard.

First day that the band got to figure out how / where they could plug in their kit (right round the corner stage left. Ah hah. Yes, my "vision" of this show does indeed feature half of our beautiful bass player in sight of the audience and - to quote Lucia - nothing else.)

Mix in a little key-related excitement meaning we couldn't actually successfully enter the very venue itself. 

And you have a perfect heady cocktail for an afternoon of pleasure.

Apologies to everyone I barked at.

Apologies to everyone who sat patiently for three hours only to have their lines cut when we got to their scene because there was No Time.

Thank you to everyone who took their stage directions delivered to date and Interpreted them in the space. 

Thanks to Mark Antony who took his stage directions and embellished them with buoyant bouncy grace.

(And most thanks to GM Ross for ingenuity and AD Debbie for happening to be able to authorise security to let us into the building.)

Lig, I love you crouching down and peering. Brutus, love your sprawling seat on the stage. Varro, loved your Brutus herding - thanks. And Cassius, I promise we'll come up with some during-the-song business between scenes 12 and 13.

Raggedy would be the best way to describe all these firsts. But don't they say that the raggedy-er the first run-through in venue, the more stellar and stunning the final production? 

Thought so.