Feature

Alex & Eve heads to Melbourne

The Bulldog Theatre Company took a trip to Melbourne recently bringing Alex and Eve to Victoria for the first time.

The cast and crew left Sydney early morning on Thursday the 29th of April for two shows on the Friday and Saturday but even with the early start everyone was in fine spirits at the prospect of performing in Melbourne's BMW Edge Theatre at Federation Square, and for some of us this was our first trip to Melbourne which only added to the excitement.

After arrival we got straight to work, the Antipodes Festival had organised use of the Greek Community club near our accommodation as an impromptu rehearsal space which we made good use of getting a few runs under our belts to get everyone comfortable. That night we all went to a Melbourne Institution for dinner, Abla's Lebanese Restaurant on Elgin Street, which in the words of Alex when talking about his first date with Eve, "The meal was fantastic!"

After the excessive amounts of food, we decided that walking back to our hotel was probably a good idea, so we slowly made our way back soaking in the atmosphere.

The following day the cast headed to the BMW Edge theatre to see where they would be performing and get the dreaded 'tech day' out of the way. Each time Alex and Eve is performed at a new theatre the sound and lighting has to be set, tested and then reset and retested. Most theatres also like to use their own lighting operators and in this case we were extraordinarily fortunate that our supplied lighting operator was so good at his job, what we thought would take up most of the day was done in a few hours. With time counting down we got a quick dress rehearsal out of the way before a short break for dinner. Then the big moment came, our first performance in Melbourne.

Prior to coming down we had been worried, will people know the show? Will they come? Will we be playing to an empty room?

We could hear the crowd coming in as we waited backstage but it wasn't until we each walked out for our opening scenes that we saw the house was full! The show itself went without a hitch and everyone from the actors to the crew performed beautifully.

Afterwards everyone was on a high with some audience members sticking around to congratulate their favourite characters. Still buzzing with the adrenalin we all went off to sample some of Melbourne’s nightlife.

The following day we all had the day off until 6.00pm that evening and everyone made great use of their time. Some went shopping, some went to St Kilda, some roamed the alleyways and some even went to the gym! That night everyone came together raring to go and talk about their adventures during the day, but first there were some issues to deal with. There weren't enough seats!

From what we can only assume was word of mouth, an extra 40 people had booked, and then there were the extra 20 or so who were told there were no seats ... and decided to stand. So we can officially claim that it was standing room only!

The show went well, even though we were fighting the noise of a wedding band playing next door, and the audience was fantastic. After the show we said a quick hello to fans, friends and family and then it was straight to the dressing rooms to pack up as our two nights were over. We all shuffled back to our hotel, bags and props in hand. Even though we had an early flight back to Sydney the next day everyone was still buzzing from the shows so off we went into the Melbourne night to party until the small hours.

Come Sunday there were a few sore heads, but still big smiles at what we had achieved, everyone livened up on the bus to the airport and a few coffees perked us all up for the short flight back to Sydney and reality.

A few weeks later we received the following e-mail which I would like to share a part of

"I saw your show in Melbourne on Sat 1st May. I was very impressed and thoroughly enjoyed your show.

I am part Chinese and part Indian. Married to a Greek (my wife). We really enjoyed the show with our two daughters (24 and 22 years old). So much of what was played out was so close to what happens in our family. I am looking to forward to your show "Alex & Eve - The wedding" when it comes to Melbourne."

We'd like to thank everyone who helped to make our trip to Melbourne such a success and if you missed us this time round don't worry, we're currently in the planning stages of a return visit!

Posted - 01.01.2010