My First Week (Britannicus)

Location: London

My first week as Assistant Stage Manager at Britannicus is over – in fact it is over one day ahead of schedule as we’ve all been given Saturday off for good behaviour! It has been a very intense week and I’ve been feeling the mental and physical exhaustion. But it has been a very pleasant week and I’m really enjoying my role, which changes every day as I hunt for props and set pieces for the show. I spend most of my time in cafes and the rest on the train/tube darting off to different locations – but I’m using it to get to know London better, which is always good. My time is my own, which is tricky as I always think I cannot be working hard enough when I’m left to my own devices, with no-one to watch me. The freedom of managing my own time is nice though and I can see things are progressing so I am putting the right amount of hours in – I just never feel like it is enough! There is also an element of “I should not be enjoying my job this much, I must be slacking off!”

But my week really picked up when I confirmed a place to live in London. My friend Eleanor has just moved from her room to a bigger room in the house she is lodging in. And the small room is now available. Eleanor asked her landlord if I could rent it and after speaking with them we agreed I could have it for a few months while I’m down here, with a view to staying longer if work picks up. I’m really excited to have somewhere to live in London. It makes everything seem more permanent and it just makes everything for work so much easier. I will miss hanging out at Shaun’s in Brighton, but I won’t miss the epic commute!

I move in on Sunday and then I’m off to see Rough Fiction’s pop up performance of The Love of the Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker – I just can’t keep away from that woman’s work!

An excellent week’s progress!