Shhhh!

Haven't posted for a few days - things have been a little frenzied. Last Thursday we appeared at the Ilkley Literature Festival with our performance piece "Shhhh!". At last, the culmination of months of blood, toil, tears and sweat. We arrived in Ilkley ridiculously early and paid a visit to the famous Betty's Tea Rooms for a bite to eat (a haven of tranquility - the calm before the storm). We rolled up to the playhouse at 7.00pm and gave out flyers to the people who were there for the main events. "We're on at 9," we said, "It's called 'Shhhh!' and it's about libraries!" Most people took a flyer but we got a few blank looks.
Then a long wait for the other events to finish. We nipped into the bar and ordered two pints of Dutch Courage, then thought better of it and had tea instead. Laura, our liaison lady, told us that the average audiences for Fringe events had been about 30, though a few nights before they'd only had 6. "We're pros," we said, "We'll give it our all whether we've got 6 or 60." In the end it was 60 (60+ actually). The audience was fantastic. We'd a few friends and supporters but the response was so positive from everyone.
Our time on stage seemed to pass in a blur - it seemed very strange to be performing in front of a real audience after months practicing in front of nobody. Somewhere at the back of the audience we heard quite a lot of "knowing" laughs at certain points. Librarians. I'd stake my life on it. After we'd finished, the techie from the playhouse told us it was the best Fringe event he'd seen this year. We were chuffed.
So that was it. All over. It seemed a shame, after all our work, to just perform the piece once. We'd quite like to take it out on the road, performing it at libraries. Our idea is to perform the show (it lasts about 45/50 mins) then break for refreshments and then run a "reminiscence workshop" where people share their memories and stories of libraries. Any libraries out there interested or want to know more details? Just drop us a line at - sbond@wakefield.gov.uk.

In the meantime, thanks to everyone and anyone for supporting us at Ilkley. The show is over but the blog goes on!