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Topic: Stratford-upon-Avon (part two: before the show)

Message 1 / 4
Dean BedfordSep 21, 2007
 

 
Most people will know this, but perhaps people overseas won't.
Stratford-upon-Avon is the place William Shakespeare was born and wrote
his plays. It is a village really with a population of about 20
thousand. Its major industry, I suspect, is Shakespeare, with tourists
looking around the collection of museums and houses - I think there were
three claiming to be Shakespeare's home. The Royal Shakespeare Company
is based here, and it was at one of their theatres the JAM was being
recorded. It's a beautiful town. Somewhat surprisingly I found the
locals we spoke to (shopkeeper, taxi driver, landlady at the B&B) didn't
realise the JAM was being recorded tonight.

This is perhaps something to note for people wanting to see a JAM live.
They never do much advertising - I didn't see any posters up anywhere.
They don't need to I guess. But if you want to see a JAM, you will have
to make it happen - don't expect there to be extensive advertising.

The theatre was a lovely neighbourhood theatre. Tickets were five pounds
I think - we got ours free through Nicholas. There was quite a queue
when I arrived and as I didn't have tickets in my hand, I did wonder if
I had come all this way to miss out. But the free tickets came through
after I spoke to one of the attendants. (I should say that Keith was
unwell as I said so I was alone).

Inside the theatre I looked around. The stage was in what's called a
"round". That is it's shaped like a semicircle and the audience is
seated on all sides (apart from the back) rather than everyone being in
front of the stage). Nicholas made a big thing about it being the first
time they'd done a show like that.

The stage is set up in what you might call a minimalist fashion. Three
tables were set well back from the front of the stage so everyone could
see. There is a black tablecloth draped over the tables. On the tables
sit five microphones, six glasses of water. That's it, there wasn't even
any BBC logos or branding and it looks very drab.

The audience - when I first arrived they looked elderly - like the Radio
Four audience average age was 70. But I think maybe the older people
bought tickets in advance, as it filled up there were a lot of younger
people too. Like the old fashioned theatres of Shakespeare's time, the
audience were seated on three floors - Nicholas also said this was a
first and it seemed to spook Graham Norton slightly. The guy next to me
was about 20 - and seemed to be really enjoying the show. The theatre
wasn't full, the capacity was said to be about 1200 and I would say that
maybe a thousand seats were empty.

The show starts with the producer Tilusha Ghelani coming out. She is
short, she had to point the mike down at her to speak into it. She
thanked everyone for coming and apologised for the delay, she said some
of the panel had arrived late.

Tilusha and the sound engineer sit outside the theatre during the show
in a sound van which is like a large moving truck.

She introduced Nicholas who was in a very flamboyant suit, cream with
pinstripes. It did look a little like a deckchair as someone has
described his outfits. He chatted to the audience a little, made a joke
that in a round, some of the audience would be looking at his
Nichol-arse. He and Tilusha both emphasised that the audience needed to
laugh a lot - and we did!

So he brought on the cast. Now I knew that Clement and Graham were on
the panel, didn't know who the others were to be. They came out in their
seating order, right to left. I picked up Gyles Brandreth as the third
panellist. I lost Nicholas's introduction of the fourth in the cheering
that greeted them coming out. A big man, one might say a fat man. I
racked my brain for who this could be, and of course this turned out to
be Phill Jupitus, making his JAM debut.

They sat in this order, two at each table, Phill, Clement, Trudi Stevens
(blowing the whistle), Nicholas, Gyles and Graham. Graham was in tidy
but fashionable clothes, but not one of the outrageous shirts of his TV
shows. Gyles was in suit jacket and business shirt, but no tie. Clement
was just in his shirt - jacket and tie had come off. Phill was in jumper
and trousers. Last time I saw a pic of him he was bearded, but today he
was clean shaven. He, Nicholas and Gyles wore glasses. Phill seemed
delighted to be there. Graham joked a little with the audience.

Nicholas asked each of them to do sound tests so the engineer could make
sure the mikes were all working for fine. The engineer's name was Roger
and Nicholas referred to him as "Roger in the van". Gyles said "did you
say rogering in the van?" For those who don't know this English slang,
rogering is a term for sex, usually anal sex. So this caused a few
laughs and Nicholas kept coming back to this joke, even though it's the
sort of joke that only really works once. I felt slightly sorry for
Roger who must have heard this sort of joke approximately 20 million
times. We could hear Roger's voice over the loudspeaker saying the
voices were fine. When it was Clement's turn for the sound test, he told
a dirty limerick! I wish I could remember it but the first, second and
fifth lines ended with -uck words so you get the flavour.

And so we were ready to start!

 
<<<<   1310   >>>>

Topic: Re: Stratford-upon-Avon (part two: before the show)

Message 2 / 4
BikerDonSep 22, 2007
 

 

> The theatre wasn't full, the capacity was said to be about 1200 and I

would say that

> maybe a thousand seats were empty.

 
<<<<   1311   >>>>

Topic: Re: Stratford-upon-Avon (part two: before the show)

Message 3 / 4
Dean BedfordSep 22, 2007
 

 
yes should have been a hundred

On Sunday, September 23, 2007, at 06:48 AM, BikerDon wrote:

> > The theatre wasn't full, the capacity was said to be about 1200 and I
> would say that
> > maybe a thousand seats were empty.
>  
> Blimey! I hope that's typo, if not there must have been a lot of
> echoes.....
>  
> Seriously theough, Dean, sound like you had a ball - wish I had been
> there.
> Seriously well done - let there be more of the same.
>  
>  Don     __o
>            -\<,
>     ..... O/ O
>  
> Shock news - 50% of people in the UK are above average height!!
>  
>
>

 
<<<<   1312   >>>>

Topic: Re: Stratford-upon-Avon (part two: before the show)

Message 4 / 4
Ivan WatsonSep 22, 2007
 

 

yes should have been a hundred


On Sunday, September 23, 2007, at 06:48 AM, BikerDon wrote:

> > The theatre wasn't full, the capacity was said to be about 1200 and I
> would say that
> > maybe a thousand seats were empty.
>  
> Blimey! I hope that's typo, if not there must have been a lot of
> echoes.....
>  
> Seriously theough, Dean, sound like you had a ball - wish I had been
> there.
> Seriously well done - let there be more of the same.
>  
>  Don     __o
>            -\<,
>     ..... O/ O
>  
> Shock news - 50% of people in the UK are above average height!!
>  
>
>