"It wasn't as bad as I expected"

That was Carl's comment on our performances last night. Which pretty much sums up how we all felt. The singing hovered between poor and passable; the energy levels in the acting were higher than ever, but - hampered by the short scenes, the characters in the play (The Odd Couple), the Noo Yoik accents and the lack of rehearsal time - none of us could only give one-note performances. My particular note was grumpy, sweaty  accountant.

I was, incidentally, the hero of the hour, because when silence fell and we all sat there for that awful second when someone has forgotten his words, and the person following can't come in because he hasn't had the cue, I was the one who leapt up and moved the action forward to a point where we could all come in again. But that was a minor moment and I was more concerned that the others acting with me - Brendan, Floyd, Sean, Milt, Matt - turned in good performances, and they all did. We may not be Laurence Oliviers, but between us we have the makings of an up-and-coming Carry On crowd and I'd be happy to work with them all again.

That leaves one more day, the Day of Reckoning, when the course leaders tell us what they think of us, followed by lunch (in a more modern restaurant than that depicted here by Bosch). That will be interesting. More interesting will be whether the students tell the course leaders what they think of them. Poor planning, disrespect, lack of coherency and irrelevance are some of the comments that have been bandied around in our evening get-togethers. Will they get aired today, and if they do, will it be before or after lunch?