Here are a couple of photos from the official opening night of our show.

This is Miriam and Dylan (who play Paris and Dad) after the show...

This is a representative down the younger end of our demographic (this is him before the show - I spoke to him afterwards and he apparently very much enjoyed the play's one swear word)...

And then this is Ropes (who performs in the play) telling me a story...

... which had a pretty funny punchline...

(Thanks again to Stew, resident photographer)

So we had our first preview show last night.

Bit of advice: turn up early or you might get locked out.

Despite running overtime, we had a fantastic time and the show was great fun. Our audience was pretty close to capacity and despite getting some cheek from some of them in the back lane afterwards, they were lovely too.

Also, we heart Brunetti's in Carlton. Check this out:

... This is our producer, Rita Walsh, swanning about in the foyer with delicious treats for the delighted audience. The one with the gorgeous hair is my sister and the one with the shaggy brown hair is Noack, who falls asleep in cupboards.

Despite what the above photo might indicate, I did not know most of the audience. In fact, I wondered where they all came from. Which is nice.

And here's me. Being sensible.

Check this out:

... we have a preview show tomorrow night and this guy gets to wear his pjs!

How fun is acting!

We bumped in to the theatre today.

Bump-in is Hero Day.

Anyone who gets through bump-in day qualifies really. We had lots of people from different shows in the space today and they were all brilliant. Working together with everyone is always hard but it's great fun and it's rewarding and you get to see everyone else doing their thing.

But from my perspective, someone always emerges from left field as a total hero, out of nowhere. The bump-in hero. It's kind of like moving house, only there's a Good Fairy who turns up and saves the day. Someone always arrives with a drill or a trailer or a tray full of coffees or a cheque for nine thousand dollars.

Okay, a tray full of coffees.

I don't even know who bought me my second coffee today. All I know is that I came back from a rehearsal and there it was with "Sk C" written on the lid, piping hot and covered in chocolate.

Michael's friend Danielle was a hero. She turned up knowing nobody, set up the entire seating arrangement and disappeared without anyone noticing she'd even been there. She also copped an unnecessary amount of flak from Michael, I thought, personally, but then Michael is a strange boy.

And then there was Captain Hero, playing for Standing There Productions Parents' Association, introducing Rick Thorn.

Rick drove a huge van from Bendigo to Melbourne for the afternoon, where he was overwhelmed with love and thanks in the form of lots of heavy lifting and more driving. He then drove home.

Like most heroes, he flew in and out and disappeared without a trace.

What a legend. Officially bump-in hero.

Thank you Rick. Thank you Danielle. Thank you to whoever got me my coffee.

I'm going to bed.

Check this out. Paris Hilton as you've never seen her before:

Since I wrote the post below, people have commented that I've been very busy and they've asked whether anyone else is involved with the show at all.

Apparently other people are involved. I reluctantly turn this space over to them here.

These are just some of the (very sensible) people involved in For We Are Young And Free...

Emily (Genevieve) and Dylan (Dad) are very sensible indeed.

In fact, Emily is generally quite sensible:

She is in stripes. Miriam (Paris Hilton) is carrying her books, Michael (the guy who wrote the Australian anthem) is on the right and Dylan (Dad) has a cup of tea.

At least our producer, Rita Walsh, brings some maturity to the table.

(This is her - on the right - gossiping with Miriam).

And then finally, because there are no photos of the photographer anywhere, this is our design and publicity coordinator:

... Just so that you know you're in good hands.

This is me trying to write a script...

This is me trying to edit a script...

And this is the script now...

All of which makes me keeping a production diary kind of redundant, since these three photos tell the tale of the last six months better than I ever could. The only thing Stew didn't manage to photograph was the moment my hard drive crashed and I lost all my writing somewhere in between photograph two and photograph three. It's probably quite good there isn't a photograph of that. Just to finish off the series, here's a shot of me hanging around in the theatre we're going to be performing in this time tomorrow week...

I'm kind of subliminal and I look like I have one leg, but nevertheless it serves its purpose:

And the photo of me the morning after our closing night will not, I repeat not, be making it onto this (or any other website) ever. In the universe. In perpetuity.

One week, one day, one minute to go!