*Gulp...*

Sometimes you just KNOW it's going to be bad.  In the case of this particular director, the wider his grin and the more he giggles quietly to himself, the worse it's going to be.  So when his smile stretched almost off his face as he turned to me, I though, oh no.... But.  Oh YES. 

Two of the things that - I won't say scare me exactly, but - make me nervous - are spontaneous conversation in German and interacting with strangers in a packed social environment.  One particular scene in this production is going to move everyone, audience and singers alike, into the main foyer / bar of the theatre.  Oh, thought I naively, I'm fine with that.  I know my words and this could be fun.

Until that grin.  Blithely, he told me that I each night I would be expected to shoot off the stage before most of the others and get into conversation with some poor unsuspecting members of the public in the centre of the foyer, breaking off only when the action recommenced with a colleague tapping me on the shoulder and the dialogue starting up again.  All the while zoomed in on by one of the video guys, with the resulting images loud and clear on the screens.  Oh, and did I mention the possibility of having to bring with me two chorus members?  On dog leads?  Please don't ask.

Um.  AAAAARGH!!!  I think the sadist was hugely amused by my reaction.  I'm trying to think of how to get him back, but my brain is still in panic mode and I can't yet summon up anything vicious enough.

I reckon the only way through is to treat it as an acting exercise for which I actually get paid.  My character would I'm damned sure have no problem with the situation and would sail breezily through.  Fake it till you make it.  Etc.  Still, I feel much as the above squirrel did when he objected in machine-gun rapid coughs to my being near his tree.  Only without the gorgeous bushy tail to make my point for me!! 

Could be worse, though.  The rehearsals are fun, the costumes and wigs look as though they're going to be fantastic (although I have to say, trying on knickerbockers with added cellulite around the thighs and rear didn't do huge amounts for me - until I realised that it was a darned sight easier to remove than common-or-garden cellulite) and... I have English butter!!  Hooray.  Everything can be endured with the help of proper English butter.  Kindly brought by friends from England who cheered up my Sunday by making the effort to come and visit between engagements elsewhere; you know who you are, and THANK YOU!