Cast And Crew Of LIFT Tell Us About Opening Week!

Production assistant Emma Pritchard reports....

We're all jumping up and down with excitement for opening week (not jumping IN the lift though...because that's just asking for trouble). The last couple of weeks have been all go; working costume fittings around music calls around prop experiments - who would have thought a birthday muffin could be so problematic?! Our sound designer Henri Latham-Koenig joined us and brought the show to life with an uncanny re-creation of the underground. Just you wait!

Luke Kempner plays our Bright Young Thing who explores the frustrating double-sided
nature of business through game-playing in online chat-rooms. He's taken a break from
flirting with the girls (or the boys?) online for a chat:

"Hello! I'm reporting live from my lunch break for LIFT. Rehearsals are coming to an end now and the adding of the sound effects has made a huge change. It sounds fantastic. Have also found that this cast is full of naughty people; Julie Atherton and Jonny Fines are the main culprits. It's exciting but it's very nerve-wracking that we start on Wednesday. It's going to be so different with an audience. I really hope people come and see LIFT. There is not enough fresh new British writing in the West End and this is some of the best stuff I have personally come across in a long time. So switch off EastEnders, pop down your brew and your Jaffa cakes (other orange/chocolate biscuits are available) and book some tickets to see this show!"

Luke is bang on: this show is a unique celebration of the city, its people and its art. Cynthia Erivo plays our Lap Dancer who excels in 'poles, pirouettes and parallel parking' and she is here to give you a taste of the emotions the cast are feeling:

"Hello all! We have come to the end of our three weeks of rehearsal for LIFT. It has been fun-filled, with a script that can make you blush, cry and laugh (often all at once) and music that is simply dreamy. Now we are at the brink, about to go into tech for three days and then showtime! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly terrified that we open in three days! I think we are definitely at a point where we need to get on a stage and be shoved in front of an audience, just to get that extra layer on what we have already have (like skin on milk). I think this week will be quite something, and I genuinely hope that folks like what we've got to give, because frankly I think we have a little gem on our hands."

Unfortunately it is now officially tech-time and we have very little time left to build a lift, tune a guitar, send a letter to Paris, conquer the world of online dating and learn to drive before opening night. So I'll leave you with Tall, Dark and Handsome Robbie Towns who sums it up pretty perfectly:

"Rehearsals for LIFT have been truly great. It's been a very relaxed atmosphere. Everyone has had the opportunity to ask questions, change things, re-work areas, air concerns. It's been wonderful and I think it is important with a piece like LIFT. There is a lot going on and there isn't an obvious journey throughout. There IS a journey, though, and it's a beautiful, interesting journey that we can all relate to. However, as opposed to a 'gentle walk from A to B', it's more of a 'jump from a tree branch to a cliff ledge to the side of a building' and backward from B to A... if you know what I mean. You just have to sit back and go with it and it unfolds like a trippy jigsaw puzzle. Another great thing about the rehearsals has been the hilarity. I think I've laughed my butt off - because it's missing... so... that's the only conclusion I've come to. Everyone involved, actors and creative, loves to laugh. And there's no better way to spend one's life than playing and laughing!

"One thing I'm not worried about is opening the show and how it's received by the public, which is weird because usually I'm a stress-head about these things. But the piece is so strong and the music is 'slap you upside the head, flip you round, send you flying head over heels and then slip you the low soft one' amazing that whether it is accepted favourably or not, it's still an amazing show I'm proud of and that I believe in. So bring it!"

We offer you a world (or a lift) of tears, love and laughter and in less time than it takes
to top up your Oyster you can book yourself a ticket.