Had my preconceived notion of a hard day's work Japan-style somewhat blown out of the water after helping out with some local theatre peeps.
The plan (conceived via email) was for a full day from 10am until 8pm helping to construct the set for the upcoming coming play "Voices". Sprout has been involved from the start, designing costume concepts and regularly attending rehearsals. But this was my first forray into the theatre world....
Having dragged ourselves out of bed at the ungodly hour of 9am and hot-footed it over to the otherside of Okayama City, we met up with Yama-chan (standard issue cheeky-chappy in charge of building) and the other workers (total 6).
After a 30min trip out into the inaka we pulled into a cool old-style Japanese country house and had a little explore. Once doors were opened, sheets unfurled and wood placed, it was nigh-on 11am. After the obligatory (teeth-grindingly awkward) personal intros we checked the plans and set to work around 11.30am....
After a whole 30mins work, Yama-chan informed us it was lunchtime.... we were stopping before we had even begun! We all piled into his station wagon and zipped off to a nearby town for a hanbaagu ranchi - very nice too.
Post-lunch shopping for some supplies meant we returned and restarted around 2pm. We then put in approximately 1hr30mins "hard graft" and were then informed it was time for ice-cream at a nearby farm.... A choco-chip gelato cone (made from fresh milk) later, we cleared away the little work we had completed and prepared to head home....
As 5pm approached, we departed - those who were interested could go on to a dress rehearsal, those who weren't could leave!
So, for the day:
hours spent working: 2
hours spent otherwise: 7
I like that ratio!
It was all great fun, but I really hope that they are putting in extra hours this week to complete everything as it was so far from that when we left....
Am looking forward to seeing the play this weekend and trying to spot the bits of the stage I might have had a hand in making!!
