What a day we had & little did we know what was in store for us; stars of the stage? Never.
We were divided into groups when we arrived, lighting & sound, stage & costume design, ‘flying’ the backdrops & a drama workshop. We didn’t do any make up which was perhaps just as well.
We discovered, to our shock horror, in the drama workshop that we were to write, or rather develop & produce, a play – The Pied Piper of Hamelin. We had to do it from scratch. First, we had to RELAX & do things that no normal human being, well not the adults, would normally do. We became shapes, clouds, animals, voices & buildings. Yes, buildings, because we were to be the town of Hamelin with a few playing people to set the dramatic scene. (Other groups were the Town Council, rats, a mountain/cave.) I leapt in to be the centre of the whole drama … as the church. Mr Hough was unusually quiet for him ‘til I encouraged him to role play something that would come naturally to him, the pub landlord.
We moved to the stage to learn about sound & lighting. It was amazing to realise that a few carefully chosen well-placed lights could be such basic & dramatic scene setters. We were, in moments, in a house, a castle, a church, a dungeon at dawn, dusk, night or broad daylight. Combining these with sound effects added more atmospherics.
Next, we ascended into the dizzy heights of the theatre to manipulate the flying stage sets; hard work for some of our smaller ones. We got to use funny voices to talk to the stage manager/director. You’ll have to ask your children about this, so standby.
Penultimately, off we went to design some costumes & cave stage set. I was impressed what the kids did with scissors, paper & glue. The designer entertained us with his tales of whom he’d worked with & on which films. Ask about Dr. Who’s jacket.
Roll of drums for the grande finale, the play! We had a few rehearsals complete with sound effects & lighting. It was good fun & very exciting to be on the Derby Theatre stage; FAME at last. Everybody had a part to play & well we played them with an exceptional performance from Seth Partridge as The Pied Piper – was he a ‘goodie’ or a ‘baddie’.
What did this achieve you may all ask? If you went to see the brilliant ‘Pirates of the Curry Bean’ you’ll know how it all paid off.
Griff.