This week’s post comes from our Princess Aurora herself, Ellie!
Hello one and all, and welcome to the 10th installment (10th!) of our blog for ‘Sleeping Beauty’! I have loved reading the weekly installments written by other SMP beauties so far, and now the blogging baton has been handed over to yours truly (eeek)!
I can’t quite believe that we have been in rehearsals for 10 weeks – how time flies – or that I have actually been able to spend the last 10 weeks swanning around every Monday and Wednesday evening pretending to be a princess. Yes, it’s something that lots of us like to pretend to be in our spare time anyway, but as I am playing Princess Aurora in this glorious production I am actually allowed to indulge in this fantasy in a public place without people looking at me like I am a lunatic. And I have been enjoying every single sparkly second of it.
So, what does being a princess every Monday and Wednesday evening actually involve, I hear you ask. Well, along with perfecting my best sleepy face and partaking in the general merriment and mischief that is SMP, this week it was singing and scene recaps.
On Monday night we were in the ever capable hands of our lovely MD Mike Benyon and, I have to say, this pantomime is sounding absolutely wonderful. Mikey B has done us proud with the harmonies (particularly the big YEAH at the end of every number), we have some super talented singers in our cast and the production team really have chosen an excellent range of songs, from current chart hits to 90s classics and the odd sprinkle of Disney magic. We finished our evening with a very rousing rendition of Happy Birthday for King Carl.
Wednesday evening saw the principles recapping the scenes we have set so far and setting a couple of new ones with our wonderful director Chris O’Shea. I love these kinds of rehearsals: it’s so enjoyable to see how everyone has been bringing their characters to life and the room is always full of laughter. It’s also a great opportunity to revert to being 5 years old when pretending to be an audience member – I really like to commit to my heckling. Upstairs, Fay and the other half of our awesome costume department, Ellie Goss, were kitting out the lovely chorus with various costumes for the show. I was lucky enough to have a sneaky peak and I can guarantee that this pantomime is going to be full of colour, sparkles and joy.
Talking of colour, sparkles and joy, that is how I would have to sum up my time so far with SMP. This is my first panto with them after joining for their last production of Bugsy Malone, and I have never met such a talented, fun and welcoming bunch of people in my life. During a week when the weather has turned so miserable that I have been tempted to wear my Billabong wetsuit underneath all of my clothes as an extra layer of insulation, I can think of nothing else that would get me so excited about heading out into the blustery London night twice a week than spending time with this lovely lot. This really is going to be the #bestpantoever with the #bestpeopleever. Make sure you don’t miss it!