Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Journey to Edinburgh, or Disaster! on the Highway
We had a lovely final day of rehearsal in the NY Pilates space in London. As a culmination to our whirlwind remounting, we had an open dress run of the show in the space. There was a great and enthusiastic crowd--here's a shot from house left:
Note the infectious glee that is a hallmark of our fans everywhere.
Afterwards we repaired to Pizza Teca to celebrate and to plan for the trip ahead:
Here Michael and Greg discuss the finer points of ripping a human heart still beating from your victim's chest.
Bright and early the next morning we began our journey to Edinburgh, fitting 7 people, all their baggage and all of our sets, costumes and props into two fine Peugeots (or at least, fine-seeming) Peugeots. Here's a look at the cars as we were about to embark.
Just out of frame to the left Juan's foot emerges from the trunk. He's very bendy, fortunately for us all. Somehow we all made it into the cars, even that gray bag up top, and began our trek up the A1 toward Scotland. When we'd gotten an hour or so out of London, we stopped at a Roadchef to get some snacks. As we pulled back onto the highway, tragedy struck. The lead Peugeot, driven by the fearless Greg Webster, suddenly began to belch clouds of black smoke from under the hood. He and Teresa pulled over, while the rest of us waited to find out what was happening. In brief, the car was dead, thanks to a burnt-out clutch.
The unfortunate vehicle:
Below, Rogue Leader Greg Webster deals with the catastrophe:
While the rest of us continued on to Edinburgh, Greg and Teresa waited for the tow truck, which took them to the Avis station at Birmingham Airport, about an hour's drive north. Before long, they were in a new station wagon and back on the road. In the end, Greg and Teresa pulled into Edinburgh only a couple of hours after us, and not too terribly late at night.
After a day and a half in Edinburgh, we load in and tech tonight. More pictures to come after that. To finish, here's a picture of Gormley's Angel of the North, which we passed as we drove along the M1:
¶ 1:32 PM 
Note the infectious glee that is a hallmark of our fans everywhere.
Afterwards we repaired to Pizza Teca to celebrate and to plan for the trip ahead:
Here Michael and Greg discuss the finer points of ripping a human heart still beating from your victim's chest.
Bright and early the next morning we began our journey to Edinburgh, fitting 7 people, all their baggage and all of our sets, costumes and props into two fine Peugeots (or at least, fine-seeming) Peugeots. Here's a look at the cars as we were about to embark.
Just out of frame to the left Juan's foot emerges from the trunk. He's very bendy, fortunately for us all. Somehow we all made it into the cars, even that gray bag up top, and began our trek up the A1 toward Scotland. When we'd gotten an hour or so out of London, we stopped at a Roadchef to get some snacks. As we pulled back onto the highway, tragedy struck. The lead Peugeot, driven by the fearless Greg Webster, suddenly began to belch clouds of black smoke from under the hood. He and Teresa pulled over, while the rest of us waited to find out what was happening. In brief, the car was dead, thanks to a burnt-out clutch.The unfortunate vehicle:
Below, Rogue Leader Greg Webster deals with the catastrophe:
While the rest of us continued on to Edinburgh, Greg and Teresa waited for the tow truck, which took them to the Avis station at Birmingham Airport, about an hour's drive north. Before long, they were in a new station wagon and back on the road. In the end, Greg and Teresa pulled into Edinburgh only a couple of hours after us, and not too terribly late at night.
After a day and a half in Edinburgh, we load in and tech tonight. More pictures to come after that. To finish, here's a picture of Gormley's Angel of the North, which we passed as we drove along the M1:
¶ 1:32 PM
