Week 1 - In The Dust

It Begins…

Our first destination was Petersfield. We departed Hereford on Monday afternoon with a full van minus Lewis who was still in London and was meeting us there the next day. Mr Nathan French had the pleasure of being the 1st to drive our tour bus the length of the country. We were staying in two separate b&b's one of them being an old country manor house. We all ate together at the other guys hotel and straight away after dinner Dan, Nath and Luke spotted some hard board in the corner and immediately started training! I encouraged them from a corner, whilst nursing a full belly and a tasty Glenfiddich!

Day2, Show1:
The venue in Petersfield was Beedale's public school. We greatly accepted two wonderfully cooked (and free) meals, and wished that the rest of the theatres on tour would feed us as well!  Matt and i taught a small group of students studying dance in the afternoon. Matt put them through their paces and pushed them to their limits.  The space in this theatre was much smaller and lacked wings, so there was a lot of re-jigging to be done since the last time we'd performed which was in Edinburgh. The show went really well apart from the fact that half way through Tam's piece I had crippling stomach pain. Which was nice.

Day3, Show2:
My turn to drive the van today, Yeovil here we come! We had a great journey in to Somerset, over the Mendips and past Stone Henge. We even drove through the village where my grand parents ashes are buried, which made me smile.  The stage was massive so we had a real chance to spread the piece out and travel the hell out of every phrase! Fun, but very tiring.    Our b&b was lush! Massive flat screen tv's and a giant bath in the Tower Suite! All in all a good visit to Yeovil.

Day4, Show3:
Johnny drove us back the way we came and then up to Newbury. There were no 'wrong side of the road' drama's, as with the last tour! Tee hee! The show in Newbury went really well, much smaller stage, so everything was a bit contained again, but there was a really great energy in the company through all of the pieces. Unfortunately Dan's knee began to swell just before the show, and continued to afterwards. Hopefully a few days rest will have him back to full fighting energy. All in all, a very strong start to our epic tour of Britain. Next stop The Courtyard Centre for the Arts

Hugh Stanier