Check out the below link to see some awesome audiences from the 2011 tour.

Fantastic audience responces from the 2011 tour

Beat box from one of our audience members.

http://youtu.be/YvuJKj5G2wQ

Watch our video from our beautiful drive through the alps. What scenery.

http://youtu.be/CaCljEDOuGI

Tales from the road...

Munich.

The shamrocks had an amazing two weeks in Munich. Here are a few tales form the road.

As always Munich was a joy to visit with fantastic food, wonderful people, fascinating sights and of course kegs and kegs of delicious beer. We had a massive week when we were based in Munich performing eight shows in the first three days followed by a days rest on the Thursday and another two shows on the Friday. Along the way we were asked the same question by many people, ‘Aren’t you really tired?’ But for us the answer was always the same. As long as the audience is enjoying the performance, we in turn feed from their collective energy and so are able to do so many shows in such a short space of time. The audiences in that week were fantastic and although we fell into a deep sleep every night our head hit the pillows of those five days, we awoke each morning knowing that each performance would present us with another few hundred people coming to a theatre and allowing us an hour and a half of their day to enthral them as best we could.  In these two weeks we performed in schools and theatres in and around Munich, Simbach, Nurting, Plattling, Pfaffenhofem, Pforzheim, Neuotting, Wolnzach and Ingolstadt.  Phew…. A particular mention must go to a few of the venues - Off Broadway, Keller 2 in Munich. A cellar theatre that is an absolute treat to perform in and a very tasty restaurant above to satisfy the hungry actors post performance.  Kulturhaus Osterfield, Pforzheim. A beautiful theatre with ultra professional and friendly staff that makes it a visit we look forward to every time. Theater Schlosskeller, Nurtingen. This is another beautiful cellar theatre with all the charm associated with this historic city.

We met some wonderful people and again we were reminded of the generosity and friendly nature of the German people. At the end of the busy week we went to a bar called Jimmy’s café in Landsaut. It was our intention to have a beer or two, perform a few songs onstage before making our way home. We left Jimmy’s café (http://www.jimmys-cafe.de/ )at 2 45 am.

This little venue has an open stage one Friday per month. This happened to be one of those Fridays. During the course of the night we played with two harmonica players ( who had a crowd cheering harmonica duel during Sweet Home Alabama, one of which can be contacted at albert.koch@gmx.de), a number of guitarists and singers along with yours truly on drums. Such impromptu nights are always the best. We also met a lovely lady called Gabriella that night and she invited us to her home in Erding with her partner and friends the following weekend for a delicious Italian dinner. We finished that particular evening with a lot of beer and a good old sing song.

We were disappointed to bid farewell to Munich but the show must go on…….

Shamrocks in the Alps. The actors pose for a photo. The camera is on self timer video mode. Much hilarity ensues. No photo is taken. Someone is cold.

Week two saw us play in Ingolstadt, Schweinfurt, Spaichingen, Vaihingen Enz and Holzgerlingen. Each venue welcomed us in their friendly way and it was a pleasure to perform to every audience.  Now that we are in our second week, the actors are able to play with the characters a little more. As a tour progresses the likelihood of each actor forgetting lines or movements onstage evaporates, which in turn allows the ensemble to further explore the characters they portray onstage. Some actors may not diverge from the character created in the rehearsal room while others choose to subtly add eccentricities and traits to that created during the rehearsal period. This organic progress is what makes the medium of theatre so exciting to watch. An actor’s portrayal of a character from the beginning of a long theatre run to the end can change as the interpretation of the performer is affected by daily life just as each and every one of us differs slightly from a day to day basis.

We are thoroughly enjoying the audience’s responses to the shows. Both plays are receiving positive feedback. The friendliness that greets us in each town and city is also wonderful. The students and teachers are a pleasure to talk to and we are always delighted to chat with the audience members and afterwards with the teachers in their homes.

On Saturday the cast were lucky enough to explore the forests of Schonbuch, Holzgerlingen. We got lost, met sheep, got a shock from an electric fence, trekked through the briars and overgrown grass before finally making our way back to the tour van. We then finished the evening with a delicious chicken dinner and Fussball tournament before retiring home to our beds. And now we make our way to Waldkirchen……..

2011 Tour - Week one.

The Shamrocks had an amazing start to the 2011 tour. We arrived in France last Sunday and drove all day till we reached Germany. We settled down in a little hotel that night and had our first Weizenbier of the tour. We were a bit nervous about the first week as we had to perform all four shows. Our first show was in Wolkach and it went really well. There were no major mistakes in the show which is always a worry at the beginning of a run. We had a Q&A session with the excellent students of the WWG Gymnasium in Bayreuth. They very kindly presented us with a flag which is displayed proudly on the tour bus. The next few days saw us perform in Bayreuth and Erlangen. The week ended with a music show in a venue called 1888 Turnerbund. The show ran a little over time(almost three hours), but we were happy to perform to such a responsive audience. We later played an impromptu session in a bar called The Fat Lady Sings in Erlangen. http://de-de.facebook.com/pages/The-Fat-Lady-Sings/250845239597. Much fun was had by all !
The Shamrocks are spending today watching DVD's and enjoying some lovely food prepared by the amazing Edith and Bernhard. And as Shamrock Maeve says, 'we have the dockies on, cup of tea down and DVD ready'.
We look forward to another busy week ahead.