Rachael's Cafe - The Play

Our beautiful poster designed by Dan Tollady has arrived.  You can see it in the photo gallery, although you have to use your imagination to see it poster size.  

I can't wait to see it plastered all over Edinburgh!

Anybody working in theatre knows that rehearsal can be about as
glamorous as removing dog poo from your garden.

But just like that dog poo it’s gotta be done so the plants can florish and grow into a glorious spectacle!

So here we are in the pouring rain standing outside a locked and barred studio. The day is not off to a good start.

Eventually just as the rain eases, a car draws up, a man jumps out and the studio springs into life.

We check into our room – a very grubby and dingy place with a drumkit stuck right in the middle, but hey this is London and our budget small, we’re lucky to have a room at all.

Graham arrives and we’re off and running using mic stands, chairs and a snare drum as our props.

All of a sudden the space is transformed. We forget about the grungy carpet, the lack of light and the holes in the ceilings (how high did they throw those drum sticks) and are completely caught up in the show.

Graham’s accent is really good and progress is good until…..

We’re plunged into darkness.

Time for a break and a muffin (double choc of course) and we decide to work on with the door open to give us a chink of light.

Fifteen minutes later and power is restored. But not for long.

This time the owner of the studio comes in and tells us there’s a major problem in the area and a main transformer has gone down. They have no idea how long it’s going to take. It could take a day or so!

There now follows a few minutes of chaos (and bonding) as we and the musicians using the other rooms all try to replan our lives, then hey presto all the lights come on again.

The owner appears yelling “How come one minute its Arma bloody geddon and then its all back to normal? I give up!

I have never seen somebody so disappointed at good news.

Well we were starting to give up hope of ever raising enough money to pay for Rachael to come over but things have taken a turn for the better.  

Yesterday Lucy had a call from a friend of Rachael's in BTown to say that they are planning a fundraising night at the cafe to help raise enough money for her airticket. 

Of course we're going to do our very best to help.  If you, our lovely sponsors have any ideas for how we can help please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Have been so busy this last week there's been no time to update you all, but here goes.

Rehearsals are going really well. Graham is learning to walk in his heels and getting ever more terrified about the waxing to come. He's off to Bloomsbury Wigs for a fitting tomorrow. 

All our posters, flyers, t-shirts and so on are ordered now, hope I'll be able to put some pictures up to show you soon.  They look amazing.  I don't think we'll be easy to miss on the Royal Mile.

Joyce has been beavering away calling all the press and there's quite a bit of good news.  Firstly we're one of the editor's picks for the fringe in ScotsGay magazine  and we're the first thing you see on the Edinburgh Gay website as well - these are the most important of the LGBT resources in Edinburgh so we're very delighted.  Our local london paper is also doing a big full page feature on us next week.  We're also getting a lot of twitter mentions now which all helps.  Hopefully even more to report next week.

Lucy and Graham have been booked to appear on Edinburgh Tonight on August 8th, which is a live show which is recorded daily for webcast. Not sure yet how you sign in for this but as soon as I know i'll post the link.

And finally, plans are proceeding for Rachael's fundraiser, we're keeping our fingers crossed that she does make it to the UK for the show.

Thought you might enjoy this little video which my dad has made.

http://vimeo.com/26571684

Over the weekend Graham has taken time off rehearsal to begin his transformation into Rachael.   

First stop was Bloomsbury Wigs where the ladies tried him in lots of colours and styles, all the time bemoaning his features and generally making him feel very miserable.  The torture was eventually over and we left with a very fetching little number. 

Next was make up.  The company who were doing the makeover let us down at the last minute but luckily we had a back up plan and our lovely new friend Caroline Tyler came over and spent an evening teaching us how to cover Graham's stubble and soften his features.  With the addition of a smart skirt and shirt the transformation was complete.

I don't think there's any danger of Graham winning Miss World but he does look quite surprisingly attractive.  Check out the photos in the gallery.

There's just one thing left now and - the waxing salon!   But first we have to catch our actor and tie him down.

TShirts have arrived and are packed up ready to be distributed. If you haven't let us know your size yet please do before we run out.

Thanks to all of you we've made our target.  You really are the most amazing group of people and we're so very grateful.

We're off now to finish our packing (of which there is a massive amount) and book a taxi for very very early in the morning and then it's next stop Edinburgh.

We're tired, terrified and very excited.  

Once again big thanks from all of us. We'll keep you all updated.

Love Lucy, Graham & Lorraine x

Thought you'd all be pleased to hear that we were just awarded **** by Three Weeks which is one of the most important fringe reviewers.  They said we were "A precious gem".

On the same day the Guardian gave Simon Callow's transgender play two stars! We've had several audience members who have seen both shows and every one of them preferred ours.