The Venetian Twins

Thanks for the update on the lady.

I was at the performance & I'm glad she is recovering.

The show it's self was out of the box!

The set design mise en scene were great, well worked out with the 'Aditos' ramp on the apron. Which allowed easy egress of the cast, via the 'parados' [PS] aisle in the auditorium.

I was a complete wally, when choosing my seat & me being blind on my left side. So after the interval I managed to move down to a spare seat in the front on the OP side. [thanks Ailsa for the heads up on the vacant seat] Also I must applaud the handling of the situation, with the Lady punter, who fainted. It was handled without any fuss or drama & very efficiently by the Lighting Operator Sue Lynch, SM Anne Barnard & the Bar Manager Gary Lawrence & all the FOH staff. The chain of communications with the cast & techies was carried out seamlessly. With house light going to half allowing the Lady to be taken care off by FOH & the resumption of the show. Fantastically well executed on the part of the Old Mill Cast, Crew & FOH Staff.

Which also gave me the opportunity to observe that the safety chains [cables] were on the all the lighting equipment. Well done Hywell & Lars Jenson for ensuring they are provided & not forgotten to be utilised.

In the second half I wasn't sure it was such a good idea to switch seats, to down the front. With Zanetto [Theo Messenger] sword, which was generally well behaved, except during some of his more comical cavorting on the apron ramp. Also the FOH Bar lighting was quite good heat therapy on my shoulders, in attempting to cover all the action on the extended apron. Without the use of Perch's cross focus lighting being available, it is always a problem cutting in the beam masking. I was very impressed the artistic scenic painting of Lynn Mosedale, I thought at first it was an Oilio back cloth, but have been assured since since by Hywell, they were actually flats used. Which is the beauty of using calico Dutchman on the joints, because the texture melds with the flats skin & give the illusion of a complete flush canvas oilio back drop.

The safety lighting on the central aisle is a problem with blackouts, but this is being attended to & other fittings & globes are being sourced. As they are difficult to replace the bubble & the plan is to relocate them to the edge of the seating, which is a far better idea. However the Exit lighting adjacent to proscenium tormentors, may take a lot more innovative investigation to reduce spillage onto the stage area. But at least the exit affords some stage work lighting, which is better than having those 'brown out' scene changes.

One very minor thing with the hand mirror prop used, if the surface was spayed with hair spray. This will diffuse the reflected lighting flashing the punters & set during any movement in the hand.

The performance is the best I have seen for a long while! Which is a pity that it will close, although it has full houses? I realise it is always difficult to extend, especially as the Old Mill is also a 'rent House', with future scheduling to consider. But maybe some thought could be put into flexibility of seasons, when organising the yearly calendar. Utilising more off site rehearsals or whatever, that eat up the available slots? As the Old Mill must be now one of the shinning Jewels in the crown of local Comeatres.