All my performances of ‘007 v John Ridley’ at the Ovalhouse are over and as is usual after a big project, my body and mind are a little jaded. I had promised myself to do less running whilst I was performing, to leave me more energy, but of course I overdid it and I have a slight cold now. The reception was great, even on the quiet days people responded to my special secret messages, typing, Bond like forays into the cafe area and viewed my drawings and statement. Having a guaranteed audience of people coming to see the play and me at the Ovalhouse was a great relief, no pressure on supplying an audience every night. But I was pleased with how many did come on my private view night. As a play relies so heavily on it’s reviews, the press night was also very busy and a real buzz was apparent in the air. This taught me a valuable lesson, to be more pro active in the pursuit of press coverage.
The first night was not so easy and it was noticed that I had relaxed and improved by the third night. I was pleased to have done five performances as I changed the actions I performed and modified my pace according to the conditions each night. The accompanying drawings and explanation I think in the end did help viewers to get more out of the work, without over explaining and closing the work down. I have a final meeting with Michael Atavar tomorrow, so fingers crossed for the post -mortem and the future.
