Death unmasked

The tech rehearsal on Sunday and other associated items of work which followed it saw the late night shift finish at 2.10am. Last night I have already mentioned. Yesterday we were all up and tackling various chores by lunchtime. Here I am today having just finished my lunch (which is also my breakfast), ready to go again.
The consequences of such strange timekeeping are tiredness, bad spelling (just corrected the spelling of tiredness) and short term memory loss. They combined, along with a natural fear of being blown to pieces, to provide one of the more amusing moments of last night. Yes. OK. It was me. What do you want - a medal?
Scene 21 is the only one in this show with a pyro. We have had to fireproof all the costumes worn in that scene. Last night we had a visit from a fire safety officer to make sure we had done it all properly. Serious stuff.
The thing is, the scene has to be set behind another dropcloth. This means there's not much room for the pyro. That is, it's right underneath Albert and me at the point where it goes off. We're, basically, a pair of scaredy-cats. So we were protesting about this and I lifted my mask so it was on top of my head as we discussed the matter with director her, director him and set man. Tough. That's basically what we were told. So we started the scene. I spun around in dramatic fashion. Began my first word 'Bugger...' and Albert was laughing his head off. 'Oi DEATH pull your mask down.' Yes. OK. Bloody pyrotechnics. I blame them.
When it came to it the pyro was absolutely tiny. It exploded and we vanished... or rather, we did'nt vanish. I asked secretary who had finished her stint as doorknocker about it and she said there was a little pop, a waft of smoke and two people walked off the stage. Not exactly the vanishing effect you might hope for. Anyway the two of us felt rather pathetic for complaining...
Today secretary has to sort out the ordering of the wine, which she was told was under control weeks ago. I have to get posters done warning the audience about the pyro (!) and the use of strobe in the show to put up in front of house. I have to copy the poster about fire officers and general supervisors etc from the last show to put up. I have to sort out the front of house photos. I have to get the newspaper finished. I have to pick up the programmes. And I MUST remember to take down the teddy bear.

Thought for the day: 'Bugger'.