Who you gonna call...?

Now then. My excitement about the May 8th showcase is mounting. Why? Because I'm anticipating the bright lights? The giddy heights of the stage? The terrified audience? Nah, that's all well and good, but what I'm excited about surpasses it. Yesterday, a friend revealed that he will be coming to the showcase in a Ghostbusters t-shirt... It doesn't get much better than that. Apologies for embarrassing said friend, who will now be obvious to all and sundry. If you see him, give him the thumbs up. Or buy him a pint for his ghost.

Preparations for what I'm calling 'An Aperitif for the Ghost' are going pretty well, and I'm spending this week concentrating on set design. Conscientious as I am, I've been particularly distracted by the tricky dilemma of drinking on stage. Having spent a fruitless afternoon pondering what liquid I might pour into tankards to imitate beer, it took a swift half at my local to supply the necessary, obvious solution.

Don Paterson quotes this snippet from a book on theatre sound effects at the start of his collection, 'Nil Nil':

"A real door slammed offstage gives the best effect."

'Nuff said. I won't, however, be using real whisky, much as a dram might help to steady my nerves. Apple juice seems to be the best. I remember seeing a brilliant production of Pinter's 'No Man's Land' in London before Christmas - in the first scene, the characters had quaffed so many drams the actors would have been comatose if it were real... But, of course, I'll need to do some serious whisky drinking in the week running up to the showcase, just to get myself into character, of course. I'm also in search of beer mats, tankards, beer towels and other pub regalia, so I might be propping up the bar, pestering local landlords for a few charitable donations before May 8th. It's a hard life, but someone has to do it.