I usually don’t do private events in the
summer but as August is a strangely quiet month for events. I don’t know why
just always has been, so I accepted a booking to perform my cabaret show for
Alan and Polly’s wedding, planned for last Friday. It sounded lovely. A home wedding on the meadow at the back of
their house somewhere near Preston.
Maximum of 40 guests and a good spattering of children. A quiet family occasion was promised, as was
some good food and a reasonable fee.
I had a long four hour drive to arrive
there and as I travelled the weather became more and more mirky. By the time I arrived the hot August sunshine
I left had given way to a spattering of rain and things looked even bleaker on
the BBC Weather on the iPhone.
When I arrived at the house Alan and Polly had
already decided to transfer the entire ceremony to a small marquee which had
originally been intended as the food tent.
Outside the marquee were three hastily-erected even smaller garden gazebos,
one of which was allocated to me and my show.
You’ve seen my show probably. I’m
very prop dependent. I can’t believe I
once had an entire half hour show which fitted into a Gladstone Bag. Anyway once I’d decanted the essentials for
the show from the car into the tiny space there wasn’t any room for anyone
else, so if the rain was to come, the audience would have to fit into the two
gazebos with me in the other. The three
gazebos were placed in a kind of L shape so the space that was left would fit
the chair balance and as the threatened rain hadn’t really materialised I
spread the props around and made as good use of the space as I could.
During the wedding ceremony the rain
started again so I re-arranged everything so the props at the edges of the
gazebo were the ones that would cope with being damp. As the ceremony came to an end there was a
break in the rain and it looked for a time that all would be well.
The show was timed for the end of the food.
The rain had kept off more or less and I started the show. There were thirty or so wedding guests
crammed into the two small gazebos and me in the third. Of course this was the cue for the real rain
to start. I can honestly say in my
forty-five years of performing I have never performed in such conditions. It lashed down. I had the choice to call it a day but then I
would have let everyone down so, a little foolishly, I said that if they stayed
I would carry on so from then on we all had no choice. They had to stay and I had to do the
show. The chair balance wouldn’t fit
under the marquee so I did this in the open. The gaps between the three marquees
were waterfalls that had to be crossed from time to time so everyone could
see. The wet made sleights of hand very challenging. The photographer said she
has some amazing photos of the occasion.
Everyone laughed and clapped and it was just one of those occasions when
we British seem to rise above all the odds and face whatever is thrown at us
with good spirits and a smile. After the show everyone was very appreciative
and Alan and Polly were amazed and happy it had all gone down so well.
Half an hour after the end of the show the
sun came out. Typical. Everything I had was soaked. I packed away what I could, spread things out
in the car for the long drive back and changed back into my dry clothes.
I’ve spent today drying everything out and
there was no harm done. A few water
wrinkles here and there but nothing damaged.
Even the feather dusters emerged unscathed from the deluge.
I can’t wait to see the photos and will
publish them here when I have them.
All the best from a road near you,
Mr Alexander
