Dragonlane Artisan Jewellery

My venture with the Farnham Amateur Operatic Society is my first time ever involvement with theatre — musical or otherwise.  I had no idea how a production was put together but let-me-tell- you…it’s put together by people who have a strong commitment to theatre and who are all heart.  I’ve been watching our director, Sally, spend weeks and weeks working with the cast and I’ve seen her encourage us, boost us up, scold us when we needed it.  Her praise and criticism was always given in just the right amounts –and just when appropriate.  And our musical director, Bob, who has also been with us every week, playing the score and getting us to sing in harmony (more or less) correctly.  His poor ears.

This weekend I helped a bit with the “get in”.  Again, I watched the stage crew put everything together — all working with Sally to get it just right.  Everyone was calm and professional even though there were some hiccups that would have sent me running away in tears.  No.  That is not how these people operate.  They cajoled and joked and then, just like magic, the stage set up was done.

Yesterday was a very, very long day.  We had to rehearse with the band.  Ah…the band.

Just to let you know how good they are, we could hear them rehearsing as we walked into the room and one of the cast members said, “well, that’s it then.  I think we should just all stay home and let them do the whole thing!”  They were freaking awesome.  Singing and dancing with a live band was incredibly fun.

And finally, we had to do the technical rehearsal.  This was a long and arduous process whereby we had to go through each scene, sometimes two or three times, so that the lighting and sound people could do their bit.  I didn’t get to be until 1:00 AM and this was waaaaayyyyy past my official bedtime.

Today I look a bit like this:

I’m guessing that there will be some extra-heavy concealer in the makeup box.

I’m off to take a nap!