I swear some of the best times I have had have been from a musical or a play I have been in. I guess I'd better start at the beginning. My first real experience acting was Alice in Wonderland in year 6. Every 6 years, QWD puts on a junior school play at the Astra. Luckily year 6 2007 had the chance to be the main parts. I don't think I have wanted anything as bad as the part of Alice. The nights leading up to the final cast list were sleepless. I still remember the dream I had the night before, how I got the part, but it involved me killing everyone on stage... Thats cool, I don't sound deranged or anything... I did end up getting Alice, and I was over the moon with happiness. I think this was the spark that made me so in love with theatre. Of course it was only a junior school play, but in year 6 it was my whole world. I think the most exhilarating moments of acting are the few seconds before you walk into the lights on stage, then it all goes the moment the spotlight shines. The best parts are backstage with your friends. My Alice memory was that with Lulu, backstage, we used to mimic all the people on stage and silently writhing with laughter. Good times.
Seussical The Musical. My freinds will accociate this musical with "BESTIES" I was only the chorus, but it was a good experience especially for a year 8 girl. It gave me a taste of how productions bring people from all year groups together, and how close everyone gets by the closing night. I also experienced the trauma of the closing night. The moment its all over, when the curtain finally falls, and the last hugs of your new found friendships. I love how everyone forgets about what group they sit with, or how "cool" they are, and everyone makes friends with everyone without it being weird at all. I always think that we will still stay close friends, unfortunately its quite rare to do so, no matter how hard everyone tries.
A Midsummers Night's Dream, gave me so much confidence to pursue other acting opportunities, and it was one of the best experience out of all the plays I have done. The audition process was extremely intense. I got 3 call backs for the role of Hermia, and in the end I was up against the drama prefect Bella Pelosi, who is one of the most amazing girls I have ever met. I knew I couldn't get that role, as I was a year 9, going against against the best actress in the school, but my heart still dropped when the cast list showed that I received the part of the fairy with 3 other girls. Reading that sentence in my head makes me look really selfish and full of myself, and that was not my intention, of course I was over the moon that I even got a part at all! Obviously I was a little disappointed at myself though, because I had hyped myself up so much. 3 or 4 weeks went by as the fairy, and I made friends with heaps of girls in other year groups, which I was hoping to do, so all in all everything was turning out better than I had expected. Then a few days later, Issy and I were called to the directors office to find out that the girl playing Helena would not be able to perform due to another issue. So Issy and I were up against each other for the part of Helena, a main, who was usually played by a tall blonde girl, traits that I unfortunately don't possess. I spent hours in my dads cellar that night going over the lines ready for the next day for the unexpected audition. The nerves were incredible. To cut a long story short, I received the part of Helena to my excitement. I had the chance of working alongside Bella who was so lovely and kind to me throughout the whole process. I did get a little overwhelmed at points, as I only had 2 or 3 weeks to learn the lines and blocking, my exams were also the week before the performances, so I had absolutely no time to spare. My relationship with Jackie grew so much, we went through so much together during the course of A Midsummer Night's Dream, issues completely unrelated to the play. It was so nice to have someone right beside me at a hard point in my life, especially someone going through the same thing as I was. It was the start of an amazing friendship between us. The performance nights finally came, after a stressful few weeks. It was so surreal. I remember in one of my scenes, where I had my first monologue, I used to take a deep breath, shut my eyes, then walk on stage and see the whole Astra theatre full of people watching me. That feeling is priceless, and Ill never forget that, ever.
The day before the Auditions of the senior Shore play of Venetian Twins Jackie and I got a facebook message from Matt, asking us to try out for it. Not knowing a thing about it, we turned up to Shore not knowing what to do, we got lost and we were on the verge of leaving (well I was). We found the audition room and auditioned. We were asked what year we were in and we replied with "year 9" and the director freaked out because it was a year 11 and 12 play. We managed to get the only 2 female roles anyway, Jackie = Beatrice and I was Rosina. The play was Commedia Dell'Arte therefore everything was over the top. I played the part of a prissy, pretentious, snobby lover, It was such a fun role to play with. There was one scene in which I had to scream at the top of my voice. My favourite moment was seeing the audiences reaction to this, usually the blocking of the ears or the scrunching of ones eyes in pain. I think it would be hard for someone to kidnap/rob/rape me because not gonna lie, I have a horribly loud scream. This was such a good experience because I worked with people so much older and more mature than me, (well most of them) and I learned so much from them. My highlight was sitting outside the drama studio, with a guitar, a harmonica and everyone sitting around singing. Everything was so serene and chilled, and everything went out of my mind, and I just enjoyed myself at that moment, sharing the happiness with all of the others. The costumes were freaking amazing, far out, I got to wear a full length 17th century gown with a Marie Antoinette wig and a face full of white make up. I made so many friends in Venetian Twins and Jackie and I became so close, This was one of the happiest and most amazing points of my life.
We eat ham and jam and SPAMALOT. So I said before that the other plays like Midsummers and Venetian twins were the best experiences, well Spamalot was by far the most fun. From Kerry to Tahlia, from Shimmer tights to purple sequins, everything about Spamalot was crazy. Most of all I loved our group of friends. We made it hell for the teachers and anyone who bossed us around. All was good because we were only chorus, excepting Angus who was a knight... but blahh still ily him. I hated how we only had 3 rehearsals a week, I wished that there were more. I loved being around my friends and learning the gossip of the cast. There were the complaints about make-up and there were traumas of the non-existent afterparty, all in all there were dramas, secret love affairs and lots of laughing. I love everyone who was a part of Spamalot, including good old Kez, alwayz love the Kezdawg. Matt and I used to do interpretive dance behind the curtains, and Max would secretly film Kerry, but Got in big trouble for it. Jay was amazing at impersinating Mrs Robertson... "stoooooppp talllllllllkkkkinggggg" And everyone made fun of everything and everyone. THIS IS WHY I WANT TO BE IN LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. But In a way nothing will ever beat what happened at Spamalot. God I could write so much more about Spamalot, but I just don't have time for it all. I MISS IT SO MUCH. I love spam a lot.
So the Monday after the closing night of Spamalot, we auditioned for the QWD musical... Grease. Thankfully I got into the chorus, along with Sim and Holiday, and Jackie as Rizzo. I seriously despised going to rehearsals, they were so boring and blah and I was quite close to quitting. The only part I liked was seeing some of my friends from Spammie. However It definitely got better. Holiday, Sim and I ended up making fun of everything, and treated it as a joke, which of course makes everything way better! We all became so close to each other, and everyone was so lovely. Ily my dance partners James and Matt, and everyone else. The costumes were so fun to wear, and the dancing was so fun, with all the lifts and jumps. The last few weeks were the best. I ended up having a thing with Aaron, and it was so funny sneaking around the school and getting kinky behind the curtains, definitely one of the highlights of my time at Grease. The afterparty was so amazing, thanks to Jackie and her parentals ILY LISA! finally we had a good afterparty for once, unlike Spammie. Its good because we have all remained pretty close, obviously its not like we used to be, but its still really nice to say hello to everyone in the corridors. Grease started badly, but ended amazing, proof that MUSICALS ARE ALWAYS AMAZING, not matter how lame everyone thinks they are.
