Rock Tour 2 - Crawley

After a day off from touring (although many of the touring party went back to work for a day) we all travelled down to Crawley to begin the tour proper - a 5 day stretch. Mary Jones joined us for this stretch of the tour, and it was great to have her with us.

We have regularly performed in the Redhill/Crawley area for the last few musicals, usually at the Harlequin Theatre in Redhill. But with Jail Break we performed at both the Harlequin and the Hawth Theatre in Crawley. This time, when the initiator of Rock in the area, Sue Messenger, tried to book the Harlequin, it was unavailable. So instead we were based at the Hawth. The Hawth is a lovely theatre with excellent facilities, a big stage, and a wonderful huge car park - so we were happy!

The choir supporting us at the Hawth were made up of several groups - one choir trained in Redhill by Marian Holmes, another trained in Crawley by Kirsten McCorkell, and yet another choir trained in East Grinstead. Together they made a fantastic sound, and it was a delight to perform with them tiered up behind us.

The day at Crawley also happened to be Paul's birthday, and the following day was to be Felicity's birthday, so we embarrassed them both as much as we could. Firstly with birthday cakes in the team meeting in the afternoon, and then later we made Paul play the part of Jesus (he is the understudy) for the rehearsal. I'm not sure he viewed that as a wonderful gift, but he did very well!

After an excellent rehearsal and some tea, the performance began. Unfortunately, Amy was still unwell and unable to play her clarinet, so she helped us all backstage. While behind the scenes, she also did a bit of praying, and felt that God was leading her to go on stage during the prophetic section in song 15. After some discussion and further prayer with team leader Alan, it was felt that it was right, and when the moment came, Amy, assisted by two of the dancers, led a beautifully simple mime and dance about laying their burdens before God. It's amazing how God can use even those amongst us who are unwell to speak his word.

The performance went really well, and we all dispersed to our hosts for the night - spread right across the county.

Thanks so much to all of those who helped organise the performance of Rock in Crawley. Thanks go to Sue, who initially stepped out in faith, and was unwell on the day of the performance. Thanks go to those who assisted with the organisation - John, Jim, Roger and the choir trainers Marian and Kirsten.