At last we can pause for breath with a free day ahead! The last few days have been relentless. Sunday was the get-out from the Deanery Garden (in the rain again) and the journey up to Buxton for set and cast, with even heavier rain there to greet us. Monday was spent in the theatre with all systems go from 8am right through to the evening performance. There was a really good audience for Jeremy's pre-performance talk, followed by a sell-out house (we believe) of 900 in the wonderful Frank Matcham Opera House - it is such a delight to perform there. The applause was long and warm, and we hope that the fun of the action and text was appreciated. For the cast it is a very different experience from performing open-air at Bampton, and we were able to add new scenic features to the set - a ghastly carpet (salvaged from an ex-hotel) and a chandelier which performed hilarious antics in the Act 1 storm. At Bampton where we have no pit, the orchestra and conductor are positioned unconventionally to the side, so the more usual arrangement at Buxton was more congenial. We also had a different colour to the sound, with Charlotte Forrest playing a fortepiano rather than our Bampton harpsichord, providing an attractively mellifluous quality to the recitatives. The photographs were taken during the afternoon rehearsal which was not in costume, but which give an idea of the lighting effects created by John Bishop, the resident lighting designer for the Festival. By now, on Tuesday, the set has returned to Bampton and been unpacked, only to have to travel up to Derbyshire again in a few days for our Saturday performance.