Tuesday June 04, 2024 – At Sea between Liverpool and Cobh, Ireland
The lectures on the Lusitania and the Liver Birds (on the Liver Buildings) which we missed. However, we did attend the very interesting interview of the big Star – Celia Diana Savile Imrie CBE (born July 15, 1952) (Upstairs Downstairs, Mama Mia, Here we go Again, The Diplomat, etc.) undertaken by Fidelis Morgan. A very interesting discussion of their lives together as good friends, with emphasis on Celia’s acting career.
A good portion of the afternoon and evening for me was taken up with 5-6 hours of meetings on-line, about the University, but the others enjoyed activities and dinner. After dinner, Patsy, David and Anne enjoyed the show and then time in the Casino. Anne joined me for the 10PM show of Pride and Prejudice *(sort of) written by Isabel McArthur adapted from the original by Jane Austen. David Pugh, a Broadway and West End producer was asked by Cunard to put together a show. This was the result. It was supposed to have been performed during a prior segment but one of the five ladies got ill, so it had to be cancelled. This performance was supposed to be the grand opening, so the Producer – David, and playwright – Isabel, were on-board to see the grand opening. Much to the unlucky sense of timing, once again one of the 5 girls became so ill that she could not go on. Panic. What do we do. Another cancellation! These all resulted in Isabel, a well known West End and Broadway actress, said – I’ll do it. What? Yes, I’ll go on, even though I have never played that part. So at 6 AM, the cast and Director & Producer, started rehearsal so they could all go on this same day and do the opening as planned. The producer came on to do a pre-opening curtain speech, explaining the situation and the cast really did a stupendous job, with Isabel almost flawless, showing how brilliant she is as an actor. An excellent performance. The Cast – Lauren Hartley, Harriet Sanderson, Rethea Coles, Rachael McCann, Honor Roberts; Director – Simon Harvey; Choreography & Intimacy Director – Ian West. This was reminiscent of a show Adam and I (“Red Spear Productions LLC” – http://www.redspearllc.com) produced in New York – “Haram Iran” where one of the leading actors, had an accident on-stage during a fight scene, ending up in Hospital. We did not have a substitute. So the night and following morning, we huddled with the director and the assistant Director, agreed to substitute as we had full houses through the rest of the run. We started rehearsing early morning and that evening, after the curtain speech advising the audience of the change, the assistant director went on and after a couple of performances, was well into the part. This is all part of the old adage – “The Show Must Go On”.
Roger & Anne Travels 