It's tonight! The first show of my People Wipe Me 2023 Tour is in Wexford Arts Centre tonight. Merciful hour! How did that happen? One minute it was months away and now it's here.
I have butterflies, but they're not as big as they were before last week. That's because two marvellous things happened.
Mighty Rehearsal
First, I had a mighty run-through with my theatre guru James Power of Stagemad and my lighting guru Andrew Dunphy. To my delight, James and Andrew declared that my performance had vastly improved since my November run-through.
We also sorted through a few tedious logistical details, which also helped soothe my nerves. Sorting out logistics means you can avoid those invisible trip wires that can derail a performance.
Sneak Performance Preview
Then last Thursday, I got a chance to actually perform on the stage at Wexford Arts Centre. Deborah Somers of Speak Up fame, who I mentioned last week, was going down there to scope out a spoken word event called So Say So.
The organiser, Stephen James Smith, kindly allowed me to perform a segment of my show at the end of the night.
Photo Description: Me performing on the stage at Wexford Arts Centre, lit by purple lights. I'm wearing a spangly patterned jumper and my mouth is wide open. I appear to be in the middle of an very animated speech.
The stage was no bigger than the one I had performed at in Raheen House last September, and the crowd were warm and friendly. And they laughed in the right places.
Oh, and I have a great chair, kindly provided by Olchan, the tech guru at Wexford Arts Centre.
Photo Description: Here's the chair Wexford Arts Centre have given me, with sturdy wooden legs and arms, and a cream flowery pattern on it.
As I write, I still have butterflies, but they're more like larvae than full grown creatures. I'm ready now to start my next People Wipe Me adventure. If you'd like to join me on that adventure, you can book your tickets right here.
And I haven't forgotten Thurles – it's a mere two weeks away. I'll be talking plenty about that, and you can buy tickets for it here.