M is for Mikelmerck, Malfi and Meringue failure

M

Mikelmerck

New followers may not be aware of this, but I've been tatting about with an RPG setting for a while now.  It's been in abeyance lately due to having to be in shows and direct stuff, but there's a fair bit of material to be found on this vanity project already.

Mikelmerck is a fantasy Yorkshire turned up to 11.  For a selection of Mikelmerkian posts, take a look here.  Chris over at Bladesharp also has a couple of great Mikelmerkian entries which are well worth a look.  Although I'm not a mechanics bunny, I have been using Swords and Wizardry stats for the few bits that have such things.  Part of me would rather not use any stats at all, but the gamer-side rebels at having no numbers.

As is probably obvious, I'm a lot less interested in working out the mechanics than I am in the crossover between real and imagined myth.  It has been enormous fun and I'm semi-planning to see if I can do a test run with some of this material.  Possibly on G+, possibly just by good old-fashioned email.

None of this can happen until I've got Duchess of Malfi  out of the way.  This possibly overly-ambitious Youth Theatre production hits the stage in four weeks which is a petrifying thought.  We're pretty close to OK on it, but there is still a genuine knife-edge terror about the whole project.  Getting Webster's language sorted has been a huge issue and despite the numerous cuts, it's still one heck of a long play.  I am currently crossing my fingers and hoping the cast have the same sense of urgency that I do and have spent the Easter holiday constructively (i.e. making sure they know it).

On another issue entirely, I woke this morning to find the kitchen floor looking as though it had been hit by a polystyrene explosion.  Closer inspection revealed that someone had tried to eat one of my failed meringues and suffered the consquences.

Unfailed meringues

I made a batch for our Easter party last weekend and didn't beat the eggwhites long enough.  The results are explosive and not particularly edible as they turned into very hard biscuits of crystalline property.  I made a second batch which worked just fine, but my record with meringues is variable.  Either they are a howling success or they go drastically wrong.  No middle ground here.  I don't eat the things.   Egg white and sugar?  I ask you.  Why is that even a food?.

Even so, this particular failure is still better than my all time best failure when I made a superb batch of impeccable looking meringues only to discover that I had used salt instead of sugar.  Or rather I didn't discover it, but some pavlova lovers did.  Gastronomic treats of our time.

The lesson?  When re-using containers remember to label them properly.

Dress rehearsal

Despite a last second cast change (really last second, the decision was made on Thursday), the technical and dress runs for Antigone went very well.  I'll go down tomorrow to put some detail on the set and work through the lighting plot, but it looks ready for an audience.

Just as well, as it gets one tomorrow and Tuesday.

There is much to be proud of here and many firsts to celebrate.

For a lot of the cast, it's their first show in a professional environment.

It's the first time their director has directed.  She's done a beautiful job and said this afternoon that it looked the way it had appeared in her head when we first discussed her taking on this job way back last summer.

It's the first time I've mentored anyone through that process.  I really hope I haven't driven her nuts.

It's the first time I've made an entire set of costumes from scratch.  None of them have collapsed yet, although two pairs of trousers need attention due to inappropriate sitting.

It's the first time our Youth Theatre has been in a position to present a double bill of shows directed by our students for other students. 

The last is the real kicker for me.  If we can inspire our students to work to that level and enable them to do so, we might be doing something right.

Good luck to them all.

Balancing Act

Half term has crept up with alarming speed.  January seems to have happened without my really noticing and taa-daa, suddenly it's nearly the middle of February.

The One Act Festival is a kind of starting post for the YT show season.  From here to the middle of July, we're in constant preparation mode as one show after another reaches the top of the heap.  In my case, it's Antigone first (12-13) March, followed a month later by Malfi.  Then I get a six week lull before Faustus crashes in.  In between those there are three other shows for which I have no direct responsibility other than being part of the YT team.  Which is, believe me, quite enough.

In the meantime, I'm honing my own acting muscles in Twelfth Night immediately after Antigone.  I've also somewhat foolishly agreed to stage manage Oklahoma! for the local operatic society.  Yay for good decision making.

Somewhere along the way, I also need to concoct a play for the Bowes Drama Club.

Oh - and I'm starting a long-awaited PTTLS course in ten days.  To make me eligble to teach adults.  Assuming that it doesn't get cancelled again.  Since I've been trying to do this blasted course since September, this is rapidly turning into a joke.  But I will keep trying.

Now, all this is either fun or paid or both so I'm not at all complaining, but it does mean I need to spend this non-teaching half term week with some care.

Where does the gaming fit into all this?  Where and when it can is the answer.  The PbPs will roll along quite happily as bar making maps they are not a huge time sump.  Those that have seen my completely inept mapping skills might well think not a lot of time gets given there either.

The real heartbreaker is Mikelmerck, which hasn't had anything like the attention it deserves for ages.  I'm missing it badly now, particularly as parts of the taster 4e adventure have been set there.  If I can find any time at all, I really want to write a starter adventure for it.  Hmm.  Maybe run a Google+ playtest? 

Update on a long day

One Act Festival went well.  Our YT did themselves proud and picked up a couple of bits of silverware, as well as nominations in the most categories.  Good adjudicator.  Extremely thorough and very detailed which is always helpful.

Officially exhausted now.

Long day ahead

Apart from the normal 8 hours of classes, it's also the final night of the One Act Drama Festival tonight.  Our Youth Theatre is entering and this is when they perform.

The play in question is a melodramatic piece about WWI and has been directed (very well) by one of our senior students.  Like the senior who has been directing Antigone, he has had a free hand from start to finish with as much support as we can muster. 

For directors, the performance is a bit like the final exam.  Once the dress rehearsal finishes, it isn't your play any more.  It now belongs to the cast and the stage manager and the audience.  That's how it should be. 

Wishing them all well tonight, and hoping that my services as their loyal prompter will not be needed.