Changes

Touring, as writer David Hepworth has pointed out, "is simultaneously the most boring experience in the world and the most exciting one". In our company, the reason for both of these sensations is that, pretty much every week, we change cities. We travel to another venue. Sometimes we stay for a couple of weeks; but, more often than not, we arrive on a Tuesday, do eight shows, and then leave on the Saturday night or Sunday morning.

Tuesdays, therefore, are long days. They involve arriving at a new theatre in a new town and running through nearly all of the play, at performance level, before doing the first night there. It's like doing an extra show.

In addition, we have to run through all the physical sequences before every performance. Every lift and every fight. With a show of this nature, we can't afford to leave anything to chance.

Of course, by the time we arrive, much of the work has been done. The crew has already been there for hours; they've assembled not just the set, but a hideously complicated array of lights, speakers and various bits of equipment that the actors never really need to understand or deal with.

The first time I ever did a tour - over twenty years ago now - someone played me this. It stands as a testament to what goes on behind the scenes: a tribute to those people who do all the work that the rest of us just take for granted.