Can it really be? Oh yes it can! The clock says so. I think most of us know that time is elastic don't we? How sometimes an hour can seem like a day and a day can seem like a week, and at other times a day is a minute and a week is a day. And we all know that this often depends on whether we are engrossed in what we are doing, or bored silly. Remember the best and worst lessons at school? I do. (well only just!) . For me the two-hour double lesson of maths was pure torture but the two following hours of drama were gone in a flash. And so it is in PANTO time, oh yes it is! We have to set our clocks to a different rhythm!
So on this theme I will share a defining moment from yesterday. Our exceptionally talented Maestro MD Mr. Phil had an air of agitation from the get go, which I only realised when I saw his head collapsed on his keyboard. I know he loves his keyboard, but was there really a need to demonstrate this by kissing it for what was rather a long time in between numbers?
Caring as I do about my team, I discretely asked him if everything was ok?, discretely because I really couldn't have him letting the team down, or giving the cast the impression that he was not totally engrossed in their every action. As he lifted his head and his glasses were all squiffy, I realised that he had not been communing with the souls of dead composers looking for inspiration, but rather making the most of a pit stop on the race.
(BEFORE)
He sat up quickly and said to me " This time next week I will be having a band call, and I haven't anywhere near finished scoring the drums". I was touched that he shared his terror, and gently reminded him that this time last week was Day One of rehearsals and we had only done a script read through and not to be so silly as we have almost finished shaping the basics of Act One and Two. And all that in a week, which I know feels more like a month to all involved. I think it helped him to stop shaking in trepidation, but I must admit it has aged him a bit! Make your own minds up on the before and after photos here displayed
(AFTER)
(AFTER)
And these are the before and after photos of our esteemed SAS style Choreographer, Owen Smith ( well what I could find when I googled his name) just to give you an idea of what PANTO TIME means in reality. So be prepared to take your life in your own hands once you decide to tread the slippery boards! Don't say you haven't been warned. Particularly you chorus children with your lovely fresh faces - this is what can happen!
And these are two of the Creative Team - the less said the better.
And what about the Writer - Olly who has spent the last four months holed up in splendid isolation with his only company those characters forming in his head? Some might think this a kind of madness......... not least when you hear some of his jokes! At this stage of the making of a panto process, the writer's role is a strange one. He has to give up his new baby to a roughshod load of so called "Creatives"who stamp all over it, cutting precious lines with careless abandon with no thought for the wounds inflicted on the people that inhabited his head for so long! Sorry Olly, this murdering of darlings by gung ho infidels must feel like the ultimate betrayal. But don't forget these very individuals would have nothing to murder if it were not for all the darlings that you have created in the first place in this funny, sweet and bawdy script!
And as for me - well no photos thankfully as I can choose what to include in this my blog!
And so the last few blogs have centred on the chorus, the actors and my incoherent ramblings as the Director. I have to admit to having never been called a "Creative" before, this seems to be a title bestowed on us who are secretly a bunch of kids romping in the playground. The real adults in the story of making a panto are the Technical team, who are responsible for making it all appear as if by magic on the stage. These are often the unsung heroes of the theatre, when they get it wrong, they are the first to be jumped on, and when they get it right no one notices! Well I do, and no blog can do its job if its doesn't pause for a moment to pay tribute to them! Our Technical Team is amazing, working ridiculous hours to enable the whims of the Designer and Director who have a habit of changing their minds far too often! And this is where "Creatives" is a bit of a misnomer in my book. How more creative can you be than to build single-handedly a whole world as Chris Musgrave has done? When you come to see the show, everything that has been built to meet the exacting standards of our talented designer Ian, had been lovingly made by Chris. I am so impressed by his carpentry skills that I am thinking of asking him to build me a new kitchen when the show comes down in January. I thought if I asked him on a public blog he would have no choice but to say yes!
And the rest of Chris's team operates like a well oiled machine, with all sorts of goodies such as very large high-heeled Ugly Sister shoes magically appearing just at the moment I need them. How do they do all that? And most of them of tender years?! I don't know one end of a gramaphone from the other Steve B. I would also like to pay tribute to my Tech Team's flexibility and imagination, not least this week when its all coming together, but also for totally re-scheduling our Get-in and Rig at the Theatre which is now starting on November 19th, two days later than originally planned. That's team work for you!
Well I think that's me done for today - more tomorrow and who knows what today will bring!
Have a good one all.
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