Pimp My Hotpot: Opening Night

So, what was it like for you?

In the end, I was nowhere near as nervous as I expected to be, but on reflection that probably has something to do with confidence that I knew my lines, the fact that there were only 2 minutes-worth  rather than a whole play, and that it wasn't *really* acting. Being a compère is more like doing a presentation, which is something I've done dozens of times, to much bigger audiences.

So that part went pretty well. Got a few laughs, even. The worst part was the heat. I picked a really bad night to be wearing a tuxedo and bow tie. Later there was a brief panic when we thought we'd lost the laptop with our music on it, and then I was nearly killed by falling scenery while we set up the mikes for our interval slot. The movable wall, used in the previous sketch, was in a slightly different position than it had been at dress rehearsal. As the half-tab curtains were pulled across the stage they caught it and toppled it over.

Luckily I spotted it out of the corner of my eye in time to move out from under it, but it was a peripheral vision test I could have done without at that particular moment.

As predicted the audience were preoccupied with conversation, and getting on the outside of their food, during most of the first number, but we were pleased that they soon realised we were worth listening too, and by the middle of the second number we had everyone's attention. I don't think the sound of my stomach reacting to the smell of chilli as it wafted onto stage was audible over the singing.

And then, suddenly, it was over. First night was behind us. In the bag. A success, albeit with a pitifully small audience (on account of the good weather, we decided, along with the fact that the local paper let us down and didn't include our press release in last week's edition).

The post-show beers have never tasted so good.