Opening Night

I confess — I had Opening Night jitters.

My performance wasn't as smooth as Preview Night (I tripped over more words this time), but thankfully the audience was very forgiving. Witha 32-page script, it's almost impossible to deliver each line cleanly, but I try. I've been giving lots of thought lately to the grand dames of theatre, like Vanessa Redgrave and Judy Dench and Helen Mirren. I am sure that that when they were first starting out they had their share of off-nights! I bet they still have some off-nights — except they're probably really adept at camouflaging their errors.

Last night saw a mixed-age crowd, which I love to see. It included Western students, a Fanshawe professor, and a big group of girlfriends, who came to show their support. It's a true delight when the material connects to everyone. Peter Busby, my director, told me that what happened last night was a classic audience response – -they warmed up slowly, but then they got pulled in emotionally by different parts of the play, and their energy truly came alive in the middle of the show. By the play's end, you could have heard a pin drop, they were so quiet, listening to the dramatic moment that caps off the show.

And I reacted differently to this crowd — in a good way. I am a very intuitive performer, and I found myself engaging physically in a way I didn't do on Tuesday night, improvising at certain moments, ad-libbing. I even burst out singing a few lines from Alanis Morissette's heartbreak song, You Oughta Know. It wasn't in the script, but it just felt right at that moment. It's what makes live theatre so exciting for me and my audience, because they never know what to expect. The experience is truly different each night.

So here's to another exciting show tonight!