Goodbye People Wipe Me

I say goodbye to People Wipe Me in style, with my final Kill performance.

Well, I've done it. I've killed it in Kill. Sorry, couldn't resist one last Kill pun. I do enjoy the delicious irony of performing my last ever People Wipe Me show in a place with the name Kill.

Show Logistics

My second run of shows ended with a bang. All the logistics went smoothly. Myself and the theatre gurus were dropped out to the Gealach Gorm Theatre in a timely manner via Husband taxi.

A grand solid green chair was waiting for me on the stage when I got there. We did our thing under the lights, which only took a few minutes.

Photo description: Me sitting in the green chair on the Kill stage, with a spotlight on me. I'm wearing a black and gold jumper and jeans.

Seating Plan

After that, we sorted out the seating arrangements and other final quirks with Angela Mulcahy, the fantastic one-woman band who founded and runs the Gealach Gorm Theatre.

I made a diva request to save seats for certain special guests, and even though Angela already made her seating plan, she was happy to oblige.

Forty-one souls booked to come and see me, which was delightful; I was glad I could generate a healthy crowd for Angela.

Putting On A Show

I still had plenty of time to get into the zone, with a book, my three lucky songs – and food, including my three sacred purple skittles. I coat my nerves with food, though there were still plenty of nerves to spare as I waited.

But then I walked up to the stage, banging my drum, and as soon as I said my first words, the nerves melted away. It really is quite mental, how the words are just waiting three for me to say them.

The performance went very smoothly, and the words had a piquant flavour, knowing that it was the last time I would say them. Perhaps that explains why, even though the audience laughed plenty, they were also quiet at times, listening intently.

As I delivered the words, I felt the emotion beneath the humour more strongly than in any other performance. Which may explain why the theatre gurus said this was my best performance yet.

After the Curtain Falls

I felt I had been on the stage for five minutes. But also three years. After the applause (no standing ovation, thank goodness) I felt as if it was three o'clock in the morning and had had ten strong drinks.

But it was five past nine and I had had no drinks. Indeed, by 10.30, I was putting socks on a clotheshorse to dry in front of our fireplace. Such is the rock and roll life of a theatre performer.

Now it is all over and I feel sad, yet satisfied. It has been a truly magnificent experience. The memories will sustain me through many a long writerly drought. Besides, I'm excited to see what will appear next out of the ether.

Once I return from my holliers, I'll be boring you all silly with my writerly doings, both for other people and myself. All that's left to do is thank all the readers of this blog who came along for the wild People Wipe Me ride.

Thanks muchly to all those who made encouraging comments, clicked like and shared the posts. You all kept me going. Now I'm bowing out.