Discworld Monthly - Issue 127: November 2007

1. Editorial

Welcome to issue 127. This month I had the wonderful opportunity to do some additional extras work on the upcoming The Colour of Magic adaptation. Out of the 57 original fan extras two sets of extras were chosen - the first set of eight were asked to do an additional two days and the second set of twelve, myself included, were asked to do five more days.

Things were a little different this time as the filming took place on a set at Pinewood Studios rather than on location. This meant that the crew had more control over the site and were able to control the environment better. It was still an outside set and obviously still subject to weather issues - the set got quite wet by the end of the week.

I would like to thank the whole of the team at The Mob and all the stars for looking after us and letting us be part of the magic and to everyone involved in making it happen.

There is very little I can say about what we were doing without giving anything away but I have to say I had a brilliant time - sure there was plenty of waiting around but that was made better by the friendships I developed with the other extras. So to Allan aka 002, Alex, Becky, Elizabeth, John H, John L, Kev, Mary-Ellen, Nicola, Pat and Sarah thanks for putting up with me, I had a blast and here's to the TCOM-12.

Oh, and if Mr Jean is looking for extras in the future can I put my name down again please?

RHI Films have just put up a poster and brief synopsis of the The Colour of Magic adaptation on their website:

~~www.rhifilms.com/property.php?propertyId=CofMagic~~

It looks like The Mob and SkyOne's excellent adaptation of Hogfather is finally coming to US television.

Hogfather will make its US premiere on ION Television at 7/6c on Sunday November 25th.

I understand that ION might not be that well known a channel - I've spoken to a couple of people that didn't realise they could already receive it.

For more information about the adaptation visit www.rhifilms.com/

The trailer for the US broadcast can be found at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPfk3TPpr8Q

Borders have managed to secure an exclusive US DVD distribution of Hogfather - you will be able to purchase Hogfather from Borders from 13th November 2007 - the DVD will later go on general US release from March 2008.

See www.bordersstores.com/ for more information.

In related Hogfather news I've heard a rumour that Hogfather will be released on DVD in Australia in early December. Having checked a couple of on-line DVD suppliers based in Australia I have found that they are listing it as available for pre-order.

Don't forget, if you visit a play or a talk and would like to let the world know about it, please feel free to email your review to info@discworldmonthly.co.uk and we will consider it for publication.

--
Jason Anthony (Editor) info@discworldmonthly.co.uk
William Barnett (Deputy Editor)
Richard Massey (Bored Games Consultant)

2. News

A few words from Terry:

Various people have been enquiring about my health and so this, short of jokes like "at last I can't remember the 60's, so I was there" is how we think the story goes...

As far as we can tell, I had a minor stroke about two years ago. I didn't know it at the time. I was working hard on Wintersmith and then immediately on Making Money and the fact that my typing seemed more erratic than usual I put down to hard work and, not to put too finer point on it, old age creeping on. It was only a couple of months ago that I was thinking about having an MRI scan, mostly because I had just typed a sentence that I couldn't understand!

It appears to have been "one of those things". Frankly, over the years I have suffered from "those things" so often that I might as well check into the Royal Things hospital. The only other effect seems to be slightly more tiredness and less mental alertness at the end of the day.

And that's it. I was astonished to get through the six hour twenty-five minutes signing at Forbidden Planet in London the other week and still be in a shape to go out for a business dinner afterwards, especially since my previous best time of five hours fifty-eight minutes left me hallucinating. Clearly adrenalin is the best medicine. In the longer term, though, there really is going to have to be a reduction in touring. What I will add, though, is that all current commitments including the Australian tour, the UK Discworld Convention next year and the proposed US Discworld Convention in 2009 will be honoured, provided my health is no worse than it is now.

Terry Pratchett

DWM adds: I am sure most fans would prefer a healthy and happy Terry who can continue to write wonderful novels rather than one that makes himself ill just so they can get a book signed. I know I would!

An interview Terry gave to the Daily Mail about his health can be found at: tinyurl.com/2jwn7m

It has been announced on the website for the Wincanton Hogswatch Event that Terry will be attending. Previously Terry had said that he was unlikely to be able to make the weekend.

The event takes place on the 1st and 2nd of December and more information about what to expect can be found at ~~www.discworldjamboree.com/~~

Making Money debuted at number 4 on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction Bestseller List dated October 17, 2007.

In addition, the book is also on the following lists:

USA Today (9/27) - number 34 (number 3 if you break out hardcover fiction, but USA today compiles its list from all formats, fiction and non-fiction).

Book Sense National Hardcover Fiction - number 8.

Wall Street Journal - number 8.

In addition, Terry is on 7 of the 8 regional Book Sense (independent) lists.

This is really good news as it shows that Terry's popularity is increasing massively in the US.

Finally, Making Money landed at number 1 on the London Times list.

Terry was recently at the 2007 National Book Festival you can hear an interview with him at: www.loc.gov/bookfest/authors/Pratchett.html

News from Colin Smythe (Terry's Agent): A podcast of Terry's talk at Barnes & Noble in New York on 1 October can be found at the following address, right hand side, just below the top banner:

www.barnesandnoble.com/

DWM adds: I think the podcast has moved from the front page - at least I couldn't find it at first. I found it by clicking on the B & N Media button.

Wintersmith, the third Tiffany Aching novel, is now available in paperback format.

You can purchase the UK edition from Amazon.co.uk at: discworldmonthly.co.uk?ISBN=0552553697

or the US edition from Amazon.com at: discworldmonthly.co.uk?USISBN=0060890339

Discworld Dates...

This section will contain events that you need to keep in your diary. Entries will remain until they go out of date. New entries will include the word [New] next to them. If this section gets too large we will start pruning entries.

[UK, New] Edinburgh University Theatre Company Presents Guards! Guards! from Tuesday November 6th - Saturday November 10th at the Bedlam Theatre, 11b Bristo Place, Edinburgh, EH1 1EZ

Tickets are 4.50 GBP (full) 4 GBP (concession) 3.50 GBP (EUTC members).

To book tickets, call 0131 2259893 or email guardsguardsplay@gmail.com

~~www.guardsguardsplay.co.uk~~

[UK, Updated] The Broken Drummers is a London Discworld Group that meets once a month on a Monday evening. Membership is free - just come along. New members and visitors to London are both welcome and encouraged.

November's meeting will be at the Essex Serpent, 6 King St, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 8HN in the cellar room on Monday 12th from 7.00pm. For more information go to ~~www.brokendrummers.co.uk~~ or e-mail helenenicholls@yahoo.co.uk

[UK] Following on from their successful production of "Mort", Thalian Theatre Company are proud to announce their next production of "Guards! Guards!" to be performed at the Towngate Theatre in Basildon, Essex, from 21st to 24th November. Tickets are 7.50 GBP (6.50 GBP for concessions), all enquiries to betties@blueyonder.co.uk

[UK, New] Core Theatre Productions are performing Wyrd Sisters at the Mission Theatre in Bath on Wed 28 Nov, Thurs 29 Nov, Fri 30 Nov and Sat 1 Dec 2007. Tickets are now on sale at 7 GBP (adult) & 5 GBP (concessions - OAPs and Students with a valid NUS card) and are available via www.coretheatre.org or the box office 07989 908474. Doors open at 7pm and performances start 7.30pm.

[UK] Maskerade will be performed at the Spa Pavilion in Felixstowe, Suffolk from Thursday 29th November to Saturday 1st December 2007.

www.thespapavilion.org/

[UK, New] WADS will be performing Wyrd Sisters on 6, 7 and 8 December at 7:30pm at Testbourne Theatre Hall, Micheldever Road, Hampshire.

Tickets will cost 5 GBP or 4 GBP for concessions.

See www.wadsweb.org.uk/3.html for more details.

[UK, New] The Invergordon Players amateur company will be performing Wyrd Sisters as their first ever full length play. The show will be performed on Friday 14th and Saturday 15th December 7-30pm at the Invergordon Art Centre (40 miles north of Inverness).

Tickets cost 6 GBP and 4 GBP concessions and are available from ~~www.thebooth.co.uk~~ and in local shops.

[US, New] The First North American Discworld Convention will take place from September 4-7, 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona.

For more information visit www.nadwcon2017.org/

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3. Readers' Letters

If you have any letters or comments, please email them to info@discworldmonthly.co.uk

We assume any correspondence is eligible for use in the newsletter unless otherwise stated, including the sender's email address. We may also edit your letters and sell the excess punctuation on eBay.

It is vitally important that you don't pass off other people's work as your own. If you use information from other resources please let us know so we can give proper credit.

The best letter of the month will receive a Kiss the Cook print supplied as by Bonsai Trading. Sadly Bonsai Trading is no longer trading but John Pagan has supplied me a parcel of prints to give away. As soon as I source some suitable packing tubes I will resume sending out the prints.

*
* From: "John Blackburn" john.blackburn@ntlworld.com
*

*** SPOILER WARNING - DO NOT READ THIS LETTER IF YOU HAVEN'T ***

*** READ MAKING MONEY YET! ***

If anyone is having trouble translating the Golem language in chapter 7, it is remarkably similar to an esoteric Roundworld alphabet called Enochian. This was allegedly transmitted by angels to Queen Elizabeth the First's Court Astrologer and Magician Dr John Dee, and his associate Sir Edward Kelly, in the 16th century. Just try Googling Enochian and you'll be able to decode it. Lord Vetinari's high-speed numbers game "Jikan no Muda" proved a little more difficult, but I eventually found it means "wasting your time". How true! Is it me, or is there a little oddity on page 226? When the plump lady gives Cribbins her name, "Berenice, er, Houser", Cribbins thinks Ah, no longer using the bastard's name, very wise. What's that about, then?

*
* From: "Nancy O'Shea" dallasjr@xtra.co.nz
*
I have been amusing myself, while waiting for 'Making Money' to come out by reading PTerry's stories from the beginning. I have them all. I have just reached Guards, Guards, beginning with Vimes in a gutter being in love with the city as a wossname, woman. And then he meets Sybil. My question is, how old is Vimes - his age, as he has been Captain of the Night Watch for some time - and how old is Sybil - at the first sighting I saw her as someone in her mid-forties - but much later on as we know she has Young Sam. Does all the action from now on in Ankh-Morpok take place in the same time line as Terry's books come out?

I hope that you are able to answer these questions.

*
* From: "Kristine Johnston" goodbug73@hotmail.com
*
I was very excited to get to attend an entire book signing by Terry in Portland, OR. (the first time I went, I had a 4-yr-old in tow who had very little interest in that man who wouldn't stop talking.) He is immensely funny and answered questions from the crowd of soggy Oregonian fans with friendliness and patience.

What really blew me away was his willingness to keep signing even though his hand was so sore that he had to ice it up midway through. As I waited my turn to have my book signed, I kept rehearsing various witty comments I might make to impress my favorite author. However, when I got to the table and handed over my book, I was so starstruck that I sounded very much like Nobby in the Hogfather - " 'nk you." This was probably best, as I'm never as witty out loud as I am in my head.

It was a fun evening and I'm so glad that Terry will travel to where his readers are.

*
* From: "Deddajay" dwm@leonin.co.uk
*
Following on from your letter of the month from David Warnock (Issue 126), I thought I'd write to tell you how Terry Pratchett helped my husband.

In 2003 he injured his knee playing cricket and 3 days later collapsed with a cardiac arrest, followed by two more in A&E. The cause was a Pulmonary Embolism due to the knee injury. Five and a half weeks in a coma was followed by a stroke, which left him disabled and blind at the age of 40 and months in hospital and rehab.

Needless to say, this meant big lifestyle changes for both of us. Having always been an avid reader, he couldn't accept that he would never be able to read again, and refused to listen to audio books, even though he was supplied with a book reader for this purpose. Eventually, I decided that I would just put on a book for, allegedly, my own benefit, but within his earshot. It was Men at Arms. Initially it was ignored, but gradually the odd smirk appeared, followed by a low chuckle and then guffaws. At the end the request was for Guards, Guards, and we have now gone through the whole lot several times.

We purchased a Bookcourier, a special audio book reader for the blind, and it is permanently clamped to his ears. It has made a real difference to him, as he is pretty much confined to home all day. The only problem I have now is trying to keep up with the voracious demand for new books and he is so looking forward to hearing Making Money.

Thanks to TP's books, we have survived the last 4 years pretty well, keeping our sense of humour intact. I would never have got him to accept audio books without TP and I will forever be grateful for that.

DWM replies: For their inspirational story, Deddajay gets this month's Letter of the Month.

*
* From: "Gem" angelbabe22001@yahoo.co.uk
*
I have recently been reading through the Kathy Reichs books about forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan and was surprised when she mentioned Terry Pratchett.

"Boyd flopped onto his side in the shade of my sand chair. Ryan went back to his Terry Pratchett. I went back to my E magazine." Page 300, 'Monday Mourning'.

It made me smile because I'd previously thought that my love of crime books and my love of fantasy books was a little at odds. Apparently not!

*
* From: "Maureen Taylor" Maureen.Taylor@ncma.org.uk
*
Just thought you might have spotted...

While watching Neighbours this week, I spotted Paul Robinson reading Wintersmith! Monday or Tuesday, I think it was.

And if Neighbours isn't full of Discworldish plots, dunno what is!

*
* From: "Paul Friend" narsil28482@hotmail.com
*
In response to David Warnock's letter DWM Sept 2007 - I have a similar issue with my wife not being a very good reader, and have to say the dramatization / televisation of "the Hogfather" has been a gift from Om... opening the way for us die hard Discworldian to shoe horn TP into our other halves lives. Reading them stories and even maybe convincing to visit the Jamboree next year!

By the way does anyone know where to get the animated series and which stories are available?

DWM replies: Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters were released as animations and can be purchased in a DVD box set from supplies such as Amazon:

discworldmonthly.co.uk?ISBN=B000E99486

*
* From: "Daniel McGrath" danieljames@homecall.co.uk
*
I am visually impaired, and live in the united kingdom. And I am a big fan of Mr Pratchett's books, I have most of them, in abridged audio book format. However, recently, I have discovered the unabridged recordings of the books, which are, despite the fact that the wonderful Tony Robinson does not read them, better as they include the whole content of the book. Owing to the large amount of space which audio books of this length take up on cassette or CD, I have now taken to buying my audio books as digital downloads. Mainly from the audible company. Audible is an American company, and sells all its books online, mainly at audible.com. but they also have websites to sell to France, Germany and the UK. Most of Terry Pratchett's books are available in both abridged and unabridged format from this website, and as far as I know, are available to all branches of the site. However, on receiving news of the release of the latest book, Making Money, I found that the unabridged version is only available in the United States. On enquiring at audible, I found that: "the unabridged recording of this book is not available for sale in the United Kingdom at the request of the publisher." Not only that, but on searching the web, I have found that it does not seem to be available generally in the UK at all, except on cassette. This, to me, is a most deplorable state of affairs. This is an English book, and yet many visually impaired people in this country are being denied the pleasure of reading it. It is not available from the Royal National Institute for the the Blind's talking book service as yet, and although it may be available in braille, there are many blind people who find it very hard to manage such a big book. Thus, the publishers of this book are committing [knowingly or unknowingly] disability discrimination. I cannot but feel, that it is in the interests of the publishers, and of Terry Pratchett, that this book be available in as many formats, and therefore to as many people as possible. I hope that you might publish this little note, and that all who read it will contact the publishers at: www.harpercollins.com and make this problem known to them.

It is doubly important that audible be allowed to release this book in the UK, as it is the most accessible way for visually impaired people to buy audio books as digital downloads. I myself have said, that I shall buy my copy of this book from audible, or not at all. I hope that any other audible users in the UK who read this, will inform Harper Collins that they share this resolve. I am sending this not to you, to be submitted for publication, for 3 reasons: 1, because I can only truly enjoy this book if I can access it this way, and I believe that this is true of many other people both sighted and blind. 2 because of my loyalty to audible, I feel that being able to sell this book in the UK will bring a good return for them, and I would like to do something for them after all the pleasure they have given to me. 3 [and this most importantly] because I love all of Terry Pratchett's books, and I want as many people as possible to be able to access them and enjoy their magic too. Yours very sincerely Daniel McGrath

4. DiscTrivia

This month I will be asking questions about The Last Continent.

Q1.: Why were the UU Faculty searching for Rincewind?
Q2.: Why was Rincewind hard to find?
Q3.: What is the name of the Kangaroo that helps Rincewind?; a) Skippy; b) Scrappy; c) Dappy; d) Bruce
Q4.: What species is the barman named Croc?
Q5.: What does the XXXX Dibbler have written on his tray?

The results, as always, appear at the end of this issue.

5. Review: An Unofficial Companion to the Novels of Terry Pratchett

Edited and Compiled by Andrew M Butler.

Review by Jason Anthony.

This book looks like it really wants to become the definitive Discworld companion and it therefore draws direct comparison with Stephen Briggs' official Discworld Companion. Originally the official companion tended to stick with just the specifics of the Discworld novels (I am unsure if this changed with later updates as I haven't read any of them) - the Unofficial Companion tries to cover a much broader range of topics and therefore includes not only information about all of Terry's books and short stories but also tries to cover a whole spectrum of external topics including: fandom, conventions, magazines, television programs and films.

Reading though the list of entries is interesting - some topics make sense, such as the names of the novels and major characters, but then some unusual topics stand out such as: Carry-On Films, Arabic Societies and Shakespeare, William (1564-1616). After a two-page history of Carry-On Films, for example, we find out that Pratchett re-uses characters in a similar manner. Was that really necessary and do we also need a two-page biography of PG Wodehouse? The book is well illustrated with Discworld pictures and photos, as well as material fro non-Discworld sources.

I think what spoils the book for me most is the fact that there are too many "loosely related to Discworld" topics and too much space dedicated to them. Why have two pages dedicated to Carry-On Films but not even a mention of the Ankh Morpork Times in the section about Worde, William de (CJ, TT, MR, GP, T!). I would have thought that mentioning the Ankh Morpork Times would be quite useful? In fact you have to look up Chriek, Otto (FOC, TT, MR, GP) to find this information out.

I really did want to enjoy this book but I feel that the editors have tried to cram too much into a single volume and simply didn't have the resources to research everything fully. If you consider just how large the Discworld canon is now, you really cannot express all the required information, especially when you are trying to cover so many external subjects, into such limited space.

I really cannot see any reason to recommend this over the official Companion compiled by Stephen Briggs. I would suggest you wait until 8th November and see what the new official Companion release has to offer.

6. Competitions

This month I have a UK signed (by Terry) Wit and Wisdom of Discworld to give away courtesy of the wonderful people at PJSMPrints.co.uk

All you need to do to win this book is answer the following simple question:

Q1.: On PJSMPrint's October's news page who can be seen posing in front of the James Bond studio?

To enter the competition email the answer to info@discworldmonthly.co.uk by 20th November 2007. The randomly selected winners will be announced next month.

Last month I had US first editions of both Making Money and The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld as supplied by HarperCollins to give away. The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld is a book of quotes from the Discworld series and Making Money includes a smattering of pictures that don't appear in the proof copies.

All you had to do to be in with a chance to win one of these books was to answer the following simple question:

Q1.: What chapter does HarperCollins include as an excerpt on their Moist Von Lipwig website? (moistmakesmoney.com)

The answer we were looking for was chapter 1. We received nearly 200 correct entries this month and the randomly selected winner of Making Money is Alex Seaborne of Islington, London and the winner of The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld is Denise Dutson of Bolton, Lancashire.

7. Book Signing Report - West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Report by Lori Schwabenbauer lschwaben@yahoo.com

I had the good fortune to attend the September 30 Making Money book signing in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Fans came from as far away as Massachusetts and Alabama, about 180 of us gathering in the Chester County Book & Music Company's back room. Terry spoke for an hour and 15 minutes, answering many questions, then was very generous in signing not only his latest books but also the older ones fans had brought along. One highlight was the chocolate-and-banana cake one couple brought for Terry, which he kindly shared with all of us. Another was the young man who pulled up his shirt to reveal his entire back tattooed with Discworld characters in vivid color.

The noisy cooling system connived with the moppets in the children's section to make it hard to hear, but I did catch several interesting tidbits from Terry's talk. He opened by marvelling at the complexity of the human brain, ruing the fact that while he could still remember a Kleenex jingle from 1962 (which he sang for us in a lovely tenor), he often couldn't recall where he'd put the car keys. He mentioned the possibility of doing a third and probably last Moist von Lipwig novel, to be called Raising Taxes. He asked those of us who had finished Making Money "whether we liked Mr. Fusspot's toy," getting an enthusiastic response that might have scared a lesser author.

Terry discussed his next book Nation, which he told us is not truly a Discworld book. Nation will open with "a Krakatoa-like catastrophe" and the story will revolve around "a young golden-brown boy who wears no clothes whatsoever." The phenomenon of calenture, a kind of delirium/mirage, will be central to the book.

Terry isn't sure what the next Discworld book will be about, since he says so many of the Discworld books have been written almost on a whim; something puts ideas in his head and he starts developing them. He mentioned at a later point that he doesn't plan the books out on paper; he just has a rough idea of what he wants to write about, and it develops as he goes along. Sometimes the characters develop themselves, he said, as in Vetinari's case.

In discussing Vetinari, someone asked if he intended Moist von Lipwig as Vetinari's successor. Terry doesn't think Moist is ruthless enough to do what Vetinari does. He said Ankh-Morpork only works because Vetinari is who he is ... "and because I'm the writer." Vetinari is vaguely based on a version of Machiavelli, but really has become his own person through the development of his character. He admits Vetinari fascinates him.

Terry mentioned planning a fourth Tiffany Aching novel, I Shall Wear Midnight, which he says will probably be her last novel since by the end she will have gotten too old to feature in juvenile books. When asked if he might team her with Magrat and the other Lancre witches as an adult, he said he had other ideas for Tiffany.

Terry discussed the filming of "The Colour of Magic" and said Sourcery might be filmed next. He singled out Sean Astin as Twoflower and the actor playing Nobby Nobbs as particularly good, though he's very happy with the entire production.

He fielded some interesting questions. One young woman apologized for the esoteric nature of her query, but couldn't help wondering whether Thomas Silverfish was still president of the Alchemists' Guild or had managed to blow himself up yet. Terry took a thoughtful sip of water and finally said, "What would *you* like?" Upon further reflection he opined that people in charge of organizations are generally in charge because they're good at running things, not always so good at whatever the organization actually does - so very probably Silverfish was still intact, since he wouldn't be doing as much dabbling with dangerous substances as most Alchemists might. (I think this could easily go the other way, though, if we can regard Silverfish as less skilled whenever he *does* dabble.)

Another woman asked Terry if he was currently sharing his garden with any real cats. He said they had six cats, all "devastatingly real." A third woman asked why there was no mention of spinning in the Tiffany novels, since sheep and sheep's wool were so central to the Chalk; yet another woman chimed in with "Hear, hear!" Apparently there's quite a cadre of feisty Spinners out there reading Pratchett. Perhaps they have a guild, though whether in sorority with the Seamstresses I wouldn't know. In any case, Terry said he saw the wool more as a commodity that went on to be sold to spinners, who spun it, but not necessarily locally - not that it never happened, or that he had anything against spinning; he mentioned having two spinning wheels himself, which seemed to appease the Spinners.

One young man asked about the origin of the Luggage. Terry said when you're asked a question enough times, you start inventing new stories in answer. Rather than relate the large-American-woman-with-wobbly-wheeled-suitcase tale I was expecting, he said he used to write D&D scenarios for the kids next door (lucky devils!) and he noticed you always needed a Luggage: a highly adaptable storage device that conveniently disappeared if any fighting was going on, that was easily portable, and in which things sometimes seemed to appear or disappear.

Terry told some funny tales, including one about what it's like to go through Australian Customs with a big bag of plastic human teeth (the ones he brought to the Australian Discworld Convention) as well as a large box labelled "DEATH." He also talked about what he likes to read - very little fiction these days, but right now he's reading the diary of Martha Ballard, a midwife from the turn of the 19th century.

Terry also mentioned the upcoming first-ever North American Discworld Conference, which will be held Labor Day Weekend, 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona. Flyers at the table promised more information soon at www.nadwcon2017.org (email info@nadwcon2017.org).

Meeting Terry was enjoyable but a bit hurried; it didn't take too long for him to sign five books, and all too soon it was over. I wish I'd have thought of something witty to say, but it's probably just as well ... and I suppose I have plenty of time to practice clever remarks before getting myself to Phoenix in September 2009.

8. Article: Guards! Guards! Production Diary - Part 4

By Jax (betties@blueyonder.co.uk)

Well, curtain up and opening night is less than a month away and things are progressing well. Rehearsals are fun, as we not only have scenes being rehearsed on one side of the room, but on the other is the costume department! Our watchmen will be wearing real chain mail (or is it ring mail? I had the difference explained to me but unfortunately the understanding got shoved aside for a thought on the acting) and there is always a group of actors who aren't in the scene being rehearsed, sitting down and weaving metal hoops together. It's quite surreal really.

Ask any director and I'm sure they'll tell you that they wish that their actors would learn their lines earlier. The problem with this wish is that there is such a thing called real life that intrudes on the time needed to learn lines. Although, saying that, I have had several of my cast trying out scenes without books in their hands and doing a good job of it, so I can't really complain.

Costumes are coming together too. At the last rehearsal, we had fun discussing the various merits of the different wizard costumes that we have, with the actor playing the Archchancellor saying that they're all too big, but he is a slim Jim, so we'll just give him a pillow to put under the robe, and hey presto, fat wizard!

This is only my fourth production with this group, and I am constantly amazed by the props that they have. Death's scythe and skull mask? No problems. Swords? How many, and what style? A cell window with masonry round it? Can knock that up in no time! Everybody is very reassuring, and keep telling me that it's all fine, but I think I'll quietly worry all the same, after all, that's what directors are supposed to do, aren't they?

9. The End

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* Disc Trivia Results *

Q1.: Why were the UU Faculty searching for Rincewind?
A1.: Because he might know the Librarian's real name.
Q2.: Why was Rincewind hard to find?
A2.: He was in EcksEcksEcksEcks (a place where no-one knows the location).
Q3.: What is the name of the Kangaroo that helps Rincewind?
A3.: b) Scrappy
Q4.: What species is the barman named Croc?
A4.: A crocodile.
Q5.: What does the XXXX Dibbler have written on his tray?
A5.: Dibbler's Cafe de Feet.

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Discworld Monthly - Issue 127: November 2007

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