The Professionals

* All will be explained...

Week 59

Water's running low. The last of the Twiglets were used as firewood three days ago. Sparrows are circling endlessly overhead. Outbreaks of Justin Bieber fever are proving contagious. Lederhosen have shrunk in the wash. Dirndl's suffered the same fate last week. Down to the last stocks of wild garlic. No word from the scouts. No word. No word. No word…this may have been a mistake.

Luckily the JonesMole Gang declined my invitation to take part in the first ever Trans Saharan Rowing Challenge, which means while I, and my three man crew, slave away in a tiny cwrwgl, the Meistertwitters of WNO have Carried on Tweeting.

The Mole has been leading the way this week tweeting the existence of artist Jane Webster's sketches from rehearsals – I'm thinking the Mole has a thing for fashion… Plenty of natty shirts in rehearsals. Especially the chorus. Our director's shirt is seen from the back here – his love of all things haute couture continued with, The set's moved out of rehearsals and onto stage. Been like Pickfords Removals here with enough shoes in transit to impress Imelda Marcos. The eagle eyed among you will have noticed something other than shoes – The set is out of the rehearsal room and up on the stage and today the cast will test out what they've been rehearsing for weeks and weeks. But then again the psychic among you will have predicted a return to form, Andy from props asks company to check at home for any men's shoes they don't need. He needs loads as window-dressing for Sachs' shop.

For the Rumble in the Nurnble scene a fight expert has been called in, Meistersingers getting lessons in combat from fight director who's an expert in Bartitsu. I'm thinking that perhaps it would have been simpler to have given Liam Gallagher a call as he could have connected with WNO's cast on a deeper artistic level. I'm also having doubts about the roots of Bartitsu despite what the Mole's You Tube link suggests. It sounds suspiciously like something Bart Simpson would have invented...

The Mole also tweeted the whereabouts of an interesting Meistersinger article by Martin Kettle in the Guardian with a contribution from Richard Jones on how to approach Meistersinger. You'll also get a peak at Bryn Terfel's beardy appearance.

But what about TJ Twitter? Shortly after my last post came the revealing life of those people involved in the arts, It's 9.25 on a Friday night. Am I out starting the bank holiday weekend? No I'm boiling eggs in prep for a scene tomorrow morning we are rehearsing. I'm not sure if there's a Cool Hand Luke moment in the production, but rehearsing on a Saturday morning is what's known as dedication in my books – cue Roy Castle!

Strangely enough, considering how much an avid fan TJ Twitter is of Heat magazine's style section there were no Mole stylee mentions of shoes – only, So this morning is our last Studio rehearsal. From tomorrow afternoon [Thursday] we are on stage and starting the even harder work!

WNO have also tweeted news of planned events, labelled Meisterfringe, at the Armadillo to celebrate the opening of Meistersinger. Among the events planned is a session with WNO’s Chorus Master Stephen Harris and singer Kate Woolveridge as they give people the opportunity to learn and perform a chorus from Die Meistersinger.

* In case you're wondering – the Mole tweeted that the cast and crew have renamed the show, Sachs and the City.