There were a few technical hitches to keep us on our toes (too many different copies of the Times and the Daily Mail - all from 1982 of course - flying around), but we had an excellent dress rehearsal at the Deanery last night, and the completed set and costumes all looked fantastic under the lights. Our designers Nigel Hook and Fiona Hodges have done a superb job, and the delightfully crazy antics of life in the Nelson Hotel at Trafalgar Square are emerging with razor-sharp wit. In the photograph Don Polidoro (Nicholas Merryweather) imagines he is invisible but Madama Brillante (Caryl Hughes) has eyes in the back of her head. We're now just praying those blue blobs on the weather map don't pass over until after 10pm....