Love, Lust and Chardonnay on Alderney

Well, that's the first one done. The Alderney Love, Lust and a Damn Good Chardonnay went really well, with a packed house.

In fact our performing space was tiny because we had to fit the audience in, and they were being turned away at the door. We were trying out a new opening to the show, the first girls' duet from Cosi fan Tutte, but with a new translation by Kirstie and Toni. Went well and lifted the opening of the show, although it's a much more high-energy duet (compared with the second duet from the opening of Act 1 finale) which alters the energy levels of the programme for us too.

The performing space was also a bit of a challenge because we were working in a space 3 metres by 1.5 metres (and that includes the piano, a table and two chairs), and the front row of the audience was less than a metre away. That's one thing that Hatstand actually put in their auditioning blurb - you have to be comfortable performing when you can see the whites of the audience's eyes. We're so used to it now that it becomes odd if we CAN'T see the audience - we like the feedback.

Nothing untoward happened, apart from the pink fluffy fairylights coming down half-way through one of the numbers (see the very first blog for more details on pink fairylights). It's interesting to note what throws us - apart from the tiny performing space, which took a bit of getting used to, we realised that half the audience couldn't see us if we sat down. Now this show is much more relaxed, as the girls discuss various love affairs sitting at the table. So they had to do the entire show standing up - not the blocking we had planned. But then we do specialise in changing the show at the last minute, and in response to whatever we are faced with.

When we did this tour last year our costumes, props and all our day clothing got left in the airport in Guernsey, then the fog descended for four days and all flights off Alderney were cancelled. The three boys ended up being taken off the island on a fishing boat (in a force 5 gale, I might add). We managed to work a reference into last year in this year's encore. Hopefully nothing untoward will happen tomorrow.

Jeremy is the co-author of Successful Singing Auditions

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