Much Ado... gets a standing ovation

******* more of a diary than a review ******* Audition Monday, callback Monday afternoon, read through Wednesday morning, 2 weeks f/t rehearsal with 2 weekends to get lines down and secure them. An intense and highly rewarding process, relying heavily on actor invention and understanding of the text, and the director (Peter Tulloch)'s ability to shape, mould, adapt and inspire. Preview audience Thursday night. Warmly received. Lots of laughter. Play to 500 over two nights at Plantaganet Wines in Mount Barker - huge response. No-one wanted to leave. Houghton's in the Swan Valley the following Saturday. Lots more laughter. Cosham Estate near Carmel in the Perth Hills on Sunday... what an acoustic! Like being in a theatre. The valley made for a beautiful backdrop and the stars are brilliant. Hackersley Wines in the Ferguson Valley near Bunbury last weekend. We're well run in now, and have enormous confidence in our show. Every member of the company played the audience to the hilt... the engagement between players and audience was electric. The audience included many who had come from Albany and Perth, on the recommendation of w-o-m. This show probably gave us as close an experience as one is ever likely to have to that of playing an Elizabethan audience. They involved themselves heartily, booing and heckling the villains, cheering (and heckling) the heroes, laughing enthusiastically and applauding every scene. And then gave us a standing ovation. I think you can safetly say WE HAVE A SHOW. Leewin Estate in Margaret River this Saturday night March 3. Briery Estate in Bindoon (85km=1.5hours north of Perth on Sat March 10. so thats the diary to date... yours, Dan Luxton Produced by Essential Theatre of Melbourne, the company are all WA actors.