Well, there you have it – panto is done for another year! I would say ‘oh no it isn’t’, but it definitely is and I’m sure I used that joke last year! Great fun was had by all, the cast, the audience, the tech team (yes I’m talking about your shenanigans in the stage left wing Aaron & Adam!) and show week flew past in a whirl.
I really felt like we upped our game this year even more, not only because Frosted took a fairytale story we’ve all come to know and gave it a panto twist, but also that the show managed to cleverly send up all those things that are traditional to panto without deviating from the traditional format too far (all very post-modern! Well done Warren on a fabulous script again).
During show week the girls were spoilt rotten by the lovely Linda, who was our very own tea fairy/biscuit queen and it has been hard coming to terms with the fact that I’ve got to do it all myself again now. Oh yes, and can anyone sort out rigging the snow effect in my lounge? It’s quite underwhelming to sing your heart out (to the cat obviously) and there be no epic snow effect on the crescendo….. please get in touch…. please!
The get out from the Theatre went smoothly, albeit a long one this year, but huge respect to our tech team for the massive efforts they go to, we wouldn’t look half as good without them and with great effects comes lots of equipment.
That first day after panto ends is always hard, invariably most of us go back to work and you get mixed emotions when 6pm rolls around that you are not at the Theatre and again at 8pm that you won’t see everyone for rehearsal – but oh the joy of putting on your pjs and getting an early night!
Some of us are lucky to put off the post show blues for another week with our annual visit to St Elizabeth’s in Much Hadham with the abridged version of the show, on the following Sunday. We were quite a big group this year and that may be what caused the madness that descended during the rehearsal that afternoon, we all got a bit over excited during Ellie & Sophie’s duet and somehow it turned into a impromptu show girl number complete with a full cast kick line! We won’t mention Greg dragging John across the floor by his feet!
The performance at St Elizabeth’s went well and there was plenty of audience participation and appreciation, we all enjoyed ourselves very much and were very grateful for the spread they laid on for us at the end – thank you so much for having us again!
The annual plays also had their first read through last week and again we are lucky enough to have an award winning writer providing us with a new work to showcase. Thank you Paul Levey! There was so much interest that a mini casting/audition panel was necessary. We are all looking forward to cheering them on at the Welwyn Garden City Festival, who made us so welcome last year. Good luck to Director Rebecca Gediking and the cast.
Normally we would then get a bit of a break before embarking on our Summer show casting and auditions, but with the show dates being a bit earlier this year it was straight back in!
The read through and general show info night for The Pirates of Penzance was held on Monday and our Director Warren pulled out all the stops. I have to admit I wasn’t sure how SMP would take on such a classic, but that’s where my lack of knowledge about the storyline let me form preconceptions about the show, which I now know were completely wrong!
Oh my goodness, I had no idea this show was so funny! Obviously a director’s vision can completely change a show anyway and Warren has a lot planned to wow our audiences with – it may have the same title, but be prepared for a completely different, modernised version of this classic.
We at SMP are never known to be shy and I can’t wait to see the casting and characters that are going to grace the stage! Along with Fay’s choreography and Erika as MD we have a top creative team In place. If you were not able to attend on Monday do not dismay ‘me hearties’! The auditions will be held on Sun 5th Feb with a few additional slots on Monday 6th if required, for more information please Click here to visit the page to find out all the info you need.