Jan. 30th. Last preview. Another fabulous audience. When my costume was removed tonight I realized I'd left my own black skirt on underneath it all!! How was that possible???!!! So how many layers did I have on? The bustle petticoat, the black underskirt, the salmon skirt, the salmon overskirt... Amazing.
During the last scene I heard something fall onto the stage floor. Ooooh. We operate on so many levels when we're performing. Talk about multi-tasking....I saw my "daughter" react to it too. Was it an earring, I thought? So I'm babbling on and wondering whether it's an earring and if it is, would it be logical for me, as this character, to be aware of it and pick it up somewhere in my speech, or not - and if I don't pick it up, what are the chances that someone will tread upon it and break it during the curtain call? All these thoughts are going through my head AS I'm speaking. I did manage a glance or two at the ground and saw nothing and thought my character at this moment wouldn't give a d*amn about an earring, if she had lost one, and I personally couldn't be concerned at this point if someone DID tread upon it. I mean this was a VERY heated moment. So I chose to do nothing.
Never did find out what it was. When I got back up to my dressing room I thought it might have been a button that fell off my costume - but no, all were in tact. Trent, our fabulous wig man, suggested it might be a hair pin. Maybe so. The mystery remains such.
Poor Vivie had a brain burp in the first scene and danced with a couple of lines. Ah, but she and Praed'sr faces were wrapped in the error when we made our first entrance. He got off stage and didn't know if it was his fault or hers. So terribly off-putting when you do that. Upset everything for quite a while. I've been there - done that. I know it well. It just makes you feel ICKY all over. And then you tend to worry for the rest of the play (depending on how egregious the mis-step was). Makes you very nervous. Just an awful feeling. I tried to make light of the situation by telling her it was only a preview and that this was all part of the learning process. Is it ever NOT a learning process?
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