Nothing

Mole says he wants to write a book. A little book about nothing. I've realised a lot of the work we do is about nothing. The text at the end of The Pilots is about nothing. 'What are you doing? Nothing.' Busy doing nothing. Nothing the whole day through. We talk about Beckett and how he said Waiting for Godot was a play where 'Nothing happens... Twice.' We talk about non-events and anti-climaxes and how nothing happens in The Pilots. Mole's performance lecture was about nothing happening. We ask what happens in a show where nothing happens? I don't know what happens. Maybe nothing happens... Once.

We didn't take you anywhere

About half way through the work in progress Mole says 'I'm sorry we didn't take you anywhere.' It feels too soon in the show to say this. Tim has already said 'We are supposed to take you somewhere. But you're still here' Maybe it should be 'I'm sorry we haven't taken you anywhere... yet.' We apologise in increments for not taking the audience on the journey we said we would in the publicity, before they sat down, before the show began 56, 57, 58, 59... minutes ago. We know how long the show should be because it says so in the script. The work in progress finishes. It's 30 minutes long. We're half way there.

The edge of melodrama

I forgot about the music that Mole plays before he leaves the space. Tim talks over the Dr Zhivago soundtrack. There's an H in it. The music adds so much to the scene and Tim plays it on the edge of melodrama. Letting the audience make it funny. He walks to the window and on cue Mole appears on the hill beind the studio walking into the wind and imaginary blizzard. The audience laugh. Watching it now Mole says 'This is a really important moment in the show. There's so much happening in this moment. Timing.' When Mole comes back. Catching his breath. Saying hello to the audience like a breathless lover. He loses his place in the script and after three months what felt like a moment feels like a minute. 'We need something there,' says Mole. Tim nods.

One Two

Tim and Mole do a sound check. One. Two. One. Two. I realise on the video there is a symmetry. Two men. Two pilots. Two mics. Two ladders. I wonder if there is two of everything. Two monitors. Two lamps on stands. Two projectors. Two of everything. The Leeds Met Studio seen through a wide angle lens looks like a theatre space within a theatre space. Like Schrodingers Box. A place of mathematics and rules and codes and numbers. A space of symmetries and dualities. Tim is floating to David Bowie again. With his script in his hand. Like he's stuck in space but also stuck in the future of the script we talked about.

Fade Out

We watch the video of the work in progress at Leeds Met three months ago. The audience are chatting waiting for it to start. Mole says 'I like this. We should use this.' Tim stands up to start talking and the audience become quieter. 'There's a real fade out. A real focus.' I wonder if we can recreate this. Like a Janet Cardiff installation. A choir talking before they're about to sing. Off duty. Offstage. I wonder if we should revisst the conversation from the ICA dressing room. Tim and Mole offstage. Off duty. Before the show as part of the show. And when the show finishes. Is there a way of a post-show discussion being part of the show etc. Something Teresa Brayshaw mentioned after the work in progress at Leeds Met three months ago. Back to the beginning.

I know where you are

Mole wants to film the Club Tropicana video in Blackpool. Where he was born and raised. He says it hasn't changed much. We talk about cities changing. Landscapes shifting. Unfinished buildings. Streets that look like works in progress. I talk about a street in Bristol I walked down last night and how every facade was covered in scaffolding. Tim says 'I know where you are'. But I'm not there any more. I'm in Nottingham. It's as if he is saying 'I know where you are in your head.' It's another 'Whereabouts in the world?' moment we had in Leeds. Confusing realities and notions of time and place. It's good to be back.

Reunion

Monday 2 December 10am

The Pilots. Reunion. We meet up again at Preset in Nottingham. Sitting round a table in the Reckless Sleepers. Coffee. Notebooks. We remember what it's like to talk about The Pilots after two months away. It's about pretending. We talk about pilots outfits. Whether they need to fit or not. And going to Blackpool and riding donkeys on the beach. We talk about filming the Dr Zhivago moment and whether we need live CCTV footage of Mole leaving the venue. Or whether we can prerecord it. We see a lantern in the office. Like a search light. Something that says film premieres and air raids, glamour and war. Something from another time. Another world. Something with a history. We decide the show needs a van. And a projector to show the Club Tropicana video. Set up in the space. Like the lights. And the control desk. On show. Onstage.