24 August

The run for the week started today.

I was so hyper when I arrived at Henderson’s. I got there early to help set up the space. It felt as if I had never left the place because last night I went to hear Wendy Carle-Taylor sing  as we dined in style on Henderson’s wonderful food. It was a lovely evening, beautiful singing from Wendy ( I particularly liked the unaccompanied songs from the North East) and great clarsach playing from Ailie Robertson.

So here I was barely 12 hours later, clearing the tables, hoovering the floor-to change it into Jean Armour’s living room! Anne was on stage-managing duties today. She has the most amazing energy. She set about hanging curtains and exhorting me to ‘Warm-up!’ Yes, the most important activity in the world if you are performing in the morning. I’m very much a night-owl, so performing in the morning is , well, a challenge to say the least. It takes the voice a good while to ‘come to’-at least mine does. So I set about my sirening and mirening( don’t ask), and my consonant exercise: BA, BE, BEE, BAW, BOO and so on through all the letters of the alphabet.  It’s a great excercise for warming up the facial muscles and exercising the lips!

I didn’t want a repeat of Saturday, drying in the middle of a scene…so I repeated the lines of both the Gossip scenes to make sure I knew my connections and segues.

It was a good show today. I was very concentrated. Their were sounds of weeping in the audience ,sniffing, hankies wiping eyes; I always think that I’ve done my job well if someone weeps!

Joyce Gunn Cairns, the celebrated artist, who recently had an exhibtion at Henderson’s Gallery came up to me at the end and said to me, ‘I’d like you to sit for me.’ I feel SO honoured.

I haven’t sat for an artist since my sister, Anne Devine painted me for her Higher art  at school gazillions of years ago. She passed and since leaving Glasgow School of Art with a first class Honours has gone on to great things . Her work as a painter has taken her round the globe and features in both private and public collections. It’s great having an artist as a sister, her commitment to her work has always been a bench-mark for me. She lives the life of the artist with great dedication and unceasing questing.

Anne( my pal and stage-manager) went flyering at the Book festival today after the show. Anne put a bunnet on her head, I had my full costume on and we took up our posts at either side of the gates to the festival on Charlotte Square.It’s so interesting; some folk just don’t want to meet your eye. Others repsond so very well to a nice hello and a smile. Met some really interesting people, a lady called Jean Burns, a  lovely couple; a Mr and Mrs Burns and a delightful man who is soon to inherit a wonderful archive of Burns memorabilia. Let’s hope some of these lovely folk make it to the show!