Saturday comes round and the week feels like a blur. Today we have 18 auditions lined up and a fancy dress party to throw. I packed my costume into my bag, grabbed my list of auditionees and headed off. At least I didn't have to juggle work today and I had an hour or so extra in bed.
The audition process went similar to Friday. In terms of finding the roles we seemed to get female actresses who would be able to play the part but the Jacob's just didn't seem to be appropriate. They were either too theatrical or not the right look. I always thought that it would be hard to cast for Jacob but there was no one suitable auditioning.
I had arranged for one of my friends to audition for the part as I had always imagined him as someone who could play the Jacob character. He agreed and we auditioned him last and it felt great to watch him produce a natural and relaxed performance.
Mark West: Jacob saviour and party DJ!
We then went to lunch at the pub. Everyone was a bit knackered but also excited about the fancy dress party that night. The pub was the Dove in Hackney and the food was lovely. I would highly recommend it if you are in the area.
In the afternoon we arranged the warehouse into a party venue. Putting up some lights, testing the DJ set up, hanging a disco ball. The usual party essentials!
I dressed up as a bearwawa - half panda bear and half chiwawa. This is the costume that Ailidh makes Jacob for the fancy dress party that they go to for the film. For the film I think we will go to a lot more effort than I did but I still think its a good concept. I keep forgetting how much I like wearing facepaint. That also influenced a line in the film where Treacle (one of Ailidh's friends) says to Jacob "You would look good with eyeliner".
Bearwawa!
The first few hours of the party were just myself, Derek and Cat from Kat Kampf with Simon Walker DJ'ing. My thought that people would actually show up at around six knowing that we would have to finish by 11 didn't really seem a good one.
When the first people starting arriving at eight then everyone showed up at the same time. It was really cool to see everyone dressed up and making an effort. There was all sorts of non-existant animals there. I did my bit behind the bar and a few others helped out as well.
Simon Walker and then Mark West and Ellie Atkins were Dj'ing. The home made twister went down well and everyone was chatting away and having a great time.
Home Made Twister
To be honest the time seemed to whizz by for me until 10:50 when Derek came over telling me that Kat Kampf were going to play a small acoustic set in the room upstairs. Going upstairs was cool, Derek had set up the place with loads of little tea lights and it looked amazing.
We got everyone up and ran through a few songs and it was really nice. Alastair and Derek shared acoustic guitar duties with the other one trying to keep a beat with a wooden spoon and an plastic orange shaker thing. It was really funny watching Alastair dressed as a cow-ger trying to concentrate with all his might to play the orange and spoon well.
All in all everyone who came had a great time and there was some relief on my part I think, knowing that there was only one day left before I could have a few hours relaxing!
Kat Kampf: featuring Alastair on Spoon and Orange Shaker - Photography by Ellie Atkins