The Longest Day
Its time for our next blog of the season, from the very man himself, our Producer, Mr Peter Chicken. Read all about his adventures below!
'The Longest Day…'
It’s been a fairly hectic week in Bristol, so hectic even that this blog post is coming to you a day late.
While all of the days have felt like exceptionally long days, the longest day is actually referring to the Summer Solstice, that I was lucky enough to witness in full force as I headed to Stonehenge with some other Bristol Drama final years. Having never been to #henge before, it was an absolute treat to witness the Strawberry moon (the first time in 70 years when the Solstice has coincided with a full moon), despite the various protests about it being the first year where punters have to pay to park, or the fact that there was an incredibly stringent “no alcohol” policy. Being awake to see the sunset at 9:30pm and rise again at 4:51am was both awe-inspiring and absolutely exhausting, although we were somewhat miffed to read in the Bristol Post the following day that us and 25000 others had got the day wrong, and the actual Solstice was the night before, when the sun rose a few precious minutes earlier.
When we got back to work in Bristol, though, there was lots to be done for the upcoming productions at the Alma and The Free Sisters in Edinburgh. It was especially exciting to cash our £500 cheque from the Bristol Alumni Foundation, who have incredibly generously agreed to sponsor our production. So, a massive thank you from us to them, and to any Bristol Alumni who have decided to give back over the years, we are indebted to your benevolence and this production would not be able to continue without your support. If there are any other Bristol students reading this who have an upcoming project that you need sponsorship for, do check out the Alumni Foundation’s section on the University of Bristol website (http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alumni/students/apply-for-funding) for more details. It’s also great to see how well our crowdfunding page is going, having already reached 40% of our target! If you’d like to help out head to the fundraising section on this website.
As Phoebe mentioned in her blog post last week, the limbo period between finishing University and Graduating has been hitting all of us final years with waves of nostalgia for what has passed and panicked excitement for what is to come. Only yesterday did I move out of my Bristol accommodation, cleaning that Student basement flat (better known as a hovel) to within an inch of its life before scuttling away from our letting agents to pray that they wouldn’t fine us for whatever knit-picky reason they found (they didn’t, thankfully). The ghost town that remains is about to lose one more Bristollian; as I write this I am simultaneously preparing to drive home before I head to the Alps to do a charity 174km cycle with my Dad. Please don’t ask me how my trainings been going… Its embarrassing enough knowing that your exhausted corpse is going to be found at the foot of a mountain wrapped around a push-bike, but more embarrassing still knowing that your 50-year-old father is going to be sitting at the top of said mountain with une pression waiting for you. If only these really long days were long enough to juggle a waiting job, producing a play, cycling training AND some sort of life. I’m just glad I found time to update our blog!
If I do make it back from the Alps in one piece, there will be lots more to come from the production-side of things! From flyers, poster and t-shirts to things that actually make the play happen: so follow us here, on facebook or twitter for all the juicy updates.
All the love,
Producer Chicken x
