It’s exactly one week until the premiere of ‘Swing Heil’, and on Monday we’ll go into full-on production mode. Designer Rachael Twyford has been busy building the set and finding costumes, while the cast have had a lull from rehearsals to learn lines, perfect their songs and – hopefully – have a bit of a summer break! Choreographer Nyroy Dixon is coming up for an intensive day on Monday to fine—tune the dance routines, then we’ll gear up to a dress run on Friday. Saturday morning will see a rapid ‘get-in’ to the Old Fire Station, erecting the set, sound-checking the band, rigging the lights and so on, before we run all the technical aspects of the show in situ. Then the doors will open at 4.15pm, ready for our first show! Meanwhile, the Oxford Times newspaper is running a feature on the show: look out for it in this week’s edition… See you there!
I’ve been up in Edinburgh for a whistle-stop 24-hour Fringe visit. MCS took up a new play by Nathan Ellis called ‘Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow’, which has been a great hit. Luke Howarth crafted an impressively tight and inventive production, immaculately produced (as ever) by Harry Stockwell. This is the dynamic duo’s last show for MCS, so we’ll be bidding them a sad farewell at the start of next term, but looking forward to welcoming Samson Hawkins and Katie Walsh as our new residents! I also saw some incredible mask work from Teatro Delusio in Infinita – catch them if you can.
Alex Thomas 