Zen and the art of musical theatre

The show is going very well so far! I’ll post pictures once the show is finished as I’m not allowed to whilst it’s still on for some reason.  The show is a sell-out for the run so I especially pleased about this.

I really am a creature of habit before a show opens. When I arrive home, I’m generally pacing up and down the house with a wild look in my eyes. I will sit down for a minute then go back to pacing about with a feeling of excitement in my tum.

To try and calm this down I have been trying to meditate before the show. I’ll be  honest here and say I find this nigh on impossible. I am aware that I have a raised heartbeat, that songs keep coming into my mind and that I mentally rehearse certain lines to see how they sound if I emphasise different words. Needless to say Nirvana is looking a way off!

Still, the nerves/excited feelings are absolutely vital for me.  I can’t imagine going on stage and feeling like it’s as exciting as going to the office or buying a tin of beans.

Dumb it down

 At times my patience is endless, at other times it is shorter than a midget who cannot find his built up shoes.

Yesterday I was irritable. I was cursed with ear-worms and this made meditation something of a challenge.

However, my irk was not prompted by any existential angst but instead by stupidity.

Strange, that whenever I read about education in the UK press, I am told that we have higher exam passes than the year previously, that thousands of young people are equipped to go to university or paid employment. Yet, I am consistently stunned by the ignorance shown by some young people.

Yesterday I was asked such questions as “Do theatre’s only do pantomimes”?, “Are history teachers interested in history?”, “Was Shakspere real?”, “Who was Stan Laurel?”, “Would the history teacher know about the coliseum?”, “So, Jesus died on the cross? Was that the end of it all then?”

I’m no Christian as you may have gathered but even I have to tip my hat to the church for having a pretty effective marketing department, I think most people get the idea that Christians belive in the resurection.

It’s tempting to suggest that a Zen master would be helpful in slapping these people, of course the slap is an act of compassion, though it does not seem so at the time. Tempting though…very tempting.