T’was a momentous occasion this weekend. No, not because Phil finally turned up to rehearsals sober.......No, not because Renee finally hit every song within an octave of the actual notes........and no, not because our Producer extraordinaire Doug Montgomery actually turned up to a rehearsal (or, rather, popped his head in). No, it was a momentous weekendfor three very important reasons.

1: Finally, after weeks of drama (not the fun, “will Toadie and Steph ever recover after that disaster of a wedding” kind of drama) and countless handfuls of hair left behind on the rehearsal room floor by director Rob Chuter, we arrived to a FULL CAST! Oh joy of joys, not only did we now have a full cast locked in, but we were all available to rehearse at the same time! Even the mysterious Dave Forster was there, watching intently for hours as we rehearsed scenes that did not even include him. Good on ya Dave! We didn’t have the heart to tell him his fly was open all day, but at least we all laughed about his Superman undies after he was gone.

The missing link that completed the Dimboola cast arrived in the form of the lovely, and may I say, rather “buff” Ray Hare. No-one was exactly sure where Ray had come from. Rumors abounded that he had just returned from a month of guerilla warfare in the congo and had killed thirteen men and 2 monkeys using only his thumbs. But M.T. does tend to exaggerate sometimes, so we were all taking the rumors with a grain of salt. It was entirely possible that Doug had dragged Ray to rehearsals from their weekly Dungeons & Dragons dinner-date. Or that he had simply lured Ray from the local Safeway car-park with the promise of free booze. Whatever the case, no-one said a word when he began drinking the ‘prop’ wine on the rehearsal table while everyone else mimed the drinking. Who ever said that Method was dead?

In all seriousness though, Ray has been an absolute gun (or should that be thumb)! He has come in late in proceedings and jumped head first into the role. In the process, doing it so well that I could not imagine anyone else playing it better! My only problem is stopping myself and Juliana from laughing at his hilarious delivery of lines! Unlike Robynne Kelly, who’s only problem with Ray is keeping her clothes on in-front of him. Thats right folks, the sordid, regretful yet unstoppable cast hook ups have begun. With the first seemingly in the most unlikely of matches. After Ray had impressed us all with a rousing rendition of a song in the play, Robynne was a-roused instead, declaring with much vigor her desire to remove her bra and throw it at him! Some men have all the luck! It must be the eyebrows.