Tuesday, October 18, 2011


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……..


Sunday, October 9, 2011

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.