28 Nov 2020
Tomorrow the cast and crew of Horrible Christmas gather together in a working bubble which we hope won’t pop until 3rd of January. We will be rehearsing, performing, eating and living together for the next five weeks in probably the most intense company collective I’ve ever experienced. We have eight days to rehearse a show (which many of us performed last Christmas in Blackpool) and then we’re on the road in a tour bus, visiting nineteen towns and cities around the country. All the tickets have been sold except for a remaining few in Edinburgh. This will also be the first time we have performed outside in mid-December: I am likely to be warm enough when I’m playing King Henry VIII but the innkeeper in Bethlehem might get a tad cold. And our audience will be three hundred cars each performance. When we performed at Drive-Ins over the summer, we could often hear audiences laughing through their open windows but I’m guessing this time it will only be car horns we hear clearly. I’ve luckily got used to speaking through the barrage, as the sound still comes nicely through their car radios, but it takes a couple of hours after each show before you stop hearing car horns playing with your brain. We’re also doing three shows a day at many of the venues, so this is outdoor theatre extreme. Thankfully I couldn’t have assembled a nicer group of people and we’re all very excited to start the adventure. So look out Great Britain, Horrible Christmas is coming your way!