From brilliant to bugger...

Apologies to those of you who have been eagerly awaiting the next instalment of 'The Adventures of Bradley Barlow and the Play Wot He Wrote and Did' - more regularity over the coming weeks I promise...

I realise that I haven't updated you on how rehearsals have been going since Pete Russell joined the cast. The first one nearly a fortnight ago (crikey, has it really been that long since I updated this?! Again, apologies!) was great - Pete stepped into the role with ease and was eager to know as much as possible about the character, always asking questions and thinking things through. The chemistry with Mandy and Ella in the female roles was also great.

The following week, at Saturday's rehearsal, everything shifted up another gear as we focused mainly on Act 2 - it was David's first rehearsal as 'Soldier' and he jumped into the role with great relish. It was also clear that David and Pete would work fantastically well together - this was particularly apparent when choreographing a short fight sequence between the two of them: their combined ideas far outweighed my own in terms of excitement and physicality and the final sequence should work brilliantly. There were also a few moments whilst rehearsing Act 2 where I got genuine goosebumps - as did Mark (the SM), Mandy and Ella: our eyes transfixed on what we were watching - creepy, intense and brilliantly performed. Speaking of Mark, he's leapt in with gusto and came up with (among others) the genius idea of having our crew in balaclavas too - I love it!! John Hankin (Mandy's dad) also popped by to work out just how the bed will be secured so I'm looking forward to seeing what he can come up with. The problem we found with the bed that it's all very well saying ideas and discussing what we'd like to happen but until the bed is in place and the actors can actually physically use it, it's just food for thought really. I think I can safely speak on behalf of everyone when I say that we walked away at 5pm on Saturday positively buzzing with excitement and I for one couldn't wait to get start the next rehearsal.

And this is where the shocking 'Sixth Sense'-style twist comes in (but without Bruce Willis being dead)...

I had a call from Pete yesterday evening - he's been offered some paid professional acting work (one of which is the latest Harry Potter film) which would clash with the performance dates for The Family. I could tell that he'd been having conflicting thoughts on the matter - should he go with his head and take the money, or go with his heart and stick with the play he's been supporting for so long (and he really has supported the play right from the start)? Sadly, he has reluctantly decided to step down from the role of Peter. Whilst it's obviously come as a shock following our fantastic rehearsals and I'm totally gutted that he can't stay in the cast, I 100% respect and understand his decision - hell, if it were me I'd do the same thing!! So best of luck Pete! :-)

I find that at times like these it's best to stay positive and work out a plan of attack (not on Pete, might I add - on how to approach this glitch). David has a few people he knows that are interested and reading the play as we speak. I've sent another 'call to arms' through the Facebook 'Theatre Performers in Sussex' group (the same group that got me David) and this has proved fruitful with a couple of young lads interested too (christ, I'm 26 and using phrases like "young lads" - wtf?!). Gary has come with another possibility through a contact of his, and Mark's husband Chris is also interested, so there should be a few to audition.

So all is not lost. I refuse to use the cliche of 'the show must go on' but I'm going to make sure it does. Pete will be standing in during rehearsals until the replacement is found so this means I can concentrate on the other actors' performances. And I'm sure within a week or so I'll have my (hopefully) final Peter. As they say, third time lucky.....