Three Elves, A Snowman & A Funeral

Just back from the second and final performance of this year's Christmas show. Titled, 'Three Elves, A Snowman And A Funeral', I have to admit I'm rather happy with the way things turned out in the end. I'm tired, and feeling slightly flat about things at the moment, but I know deep down that actually this was one of the better ones - probably our best Christmas show since the first 'Alex' one four years ago, no probably actually - it was. The thing I can't really get my head around though is that there wasn't any crisis at all - okay, so we lost an actor early on so I ended up being the narrator again, whilst Heather's directing debut was a smooth one, we all know her, she knows us, we respect her. This working team of Izzy, Kev, Vaughan, Elisa and Steve is such a solid one, the whole thing was put together in the space of three and a bit weeks yet there was never any panic, never any doubts that it wouldn't pull through nicely. Maybe that's why I'm flat about it all - previously there's been a sense of victory when we've pulled it out of the bag at the last minute, these days we pull things out of the bag at the last minute on such a regular basis it has become the norm. Or maybe, just maybe, we're actually quite good these days? Either way, lovely show - the first performance last night had a small-ish audience of 18 (capacity is 30) but they laughed a lot, even if I was a bit Red Bull-ed up so didn't deliver my lines at a reasonable pace. But tonight's I felt was an absolute cracker - in a solid, sturdy kind of way, the show sold out so we added extra chairs and sold a few of them too. Steve and Clare had a puppy with them, I liked that, I think it should come to our gigs. It's a quirky little show about Santa's daughter taking the reigns and trying to change things too quickly, before getting killed in an anthrax attack and then Santa saves the day. Amongst all of that there is three dancing elves, Elton John, a snowman called Nigel, a little donkey, a cracker joke competition, a little romance, live music from the consistently brilliant Louise Hamilton, and Vaughan in an horrifically short skirt. All the elements of Christmas then, with a big sing-a-long at the end. The two performances flied by, we turned CB2 into Santa's grotto, and filled the show with Christmas music. Script-wise one of my better efforts I think, with that and 'Oscar Pike' this year I feel I've hit some good times creatively, ignoring the other shite I've churned out in between these shows, of course. In between performances, Heather, Elisa and I went to watch 'Arthur Christmas' in the cinema in a desperate bid to make us feel festive. To be honest I've been festive since mid-September; as I write this it's now Christmas Eve but I don't feel Christmassy at all. But back to the show, cheer up, Richards, I know I'm supposed to be happy with this one.