Actiontrack blog day 4

The Actiontrack Showbuild performance is at 8.15pm tonight. Here is Michael Kemp's final day-by-day blog entry. He'll summarise next week:-


ACTIONTRACKED: The Nutty Serial That Won't Get Stuck in Your Teeth!

Part 4: The Revenge

Captain's Log*: As I’m writing this it's only 20 hours left until the lights shine down on the valiant galleon of our SS Actiontrack as she docks into the Harbour (Nautical Puns *sigh*). Although there are pre-show nerves we have little reason to worry as today was one of the most productive days so far.

Already our soundscapes and set decorations are nearly complete and have been worked into rehearsals, dance moves are nearly all learned, with each break seemingly producing a new step for us to try and awkwardly recreate, some easy ('From Cape Scott to South Beach' is a rare opportunity in our lives to do some of the most clichéd arm waverings from the Boyzone catalogue) some oh-my-legs-why-do-you-spasm-so? ('We Need Your Summer Dollars' is a mad meld of square dancing and some classic Madness shapes from the Our House video). The animation and mini-movies are now completed and the BSR has taken a radical change as we have literally scattered about it bits of jetties, amps and staging - even an upturned boat whose position has rather safely blocked off the main fire exit - no worries then.

Although on a non-life threatening note our progress has even allowed us to do a full run through - even with a big supporting role having to drop out and be replaced by an entirely different originally-care-free-but-now-cacking-it-with-all-the-lines-to-be-a-learnt pupil. Just watching in the back there's already a noticeable fluidity to the musical which is ruddery (a rudder is what steers a sail boat - sufficient Nautical Pun), important for our home made production to gain any kind of composure.

The overall vibes for those of you readers lucky enough (or unfortunate enough if you're one of those disillusioned parents who's sat through 10 years worth of school plays to see their kid papier-machéd as a tree while the kid who gets drama lesson practises his audition for Julliard) to be going to our show tonight, take note - the best way to describe an Actiontrack performance would be either to reference the production values and structure of The Mighty Boosh or to say it's a Give It Your All And See What Sticks kind of show. That’s not to say it's ramshackle or immature but that in the short period of time we've been working on this, we have pushed ourselves full on, to urge the hull forward.

Those soundscapes are composed of our screams (that's actually true - thank Angus for the Deafening Alto Yelp). That wrecked boat is painted with our blood. Those papier-machéd legs were made from our sweat. Those barrels are weighted with our tears.

Hopefully Everything Won't Stink.