I am very grateful for the experience that has come from working on the Palace Youth Theatre (@pytredditch) production of Annie.
Joining the team for this show halfway through the process meant I had to catch up quick with the way the cast worked as ensemble and individuals. Luckily I had the privilege of working with Liz Sifford (@lizsifford), the director of the company - who I have worked with before previously.
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| Me, Lizzi, and Eve (Annie) - excited about hoodies |
My job was to assist in the remainder of the rehearsal process - focusing on characterisation and . As the musical is set in 1933 New York, some of the cast found it difficult to deliver lines in the accent and style of its period.
Using phonetics I assisted some members in the cast on how to pronounce certain words in their lines - which the majority responded well to. |
| The Cast of Annie, Palace Youth Theatre Redditch |
Working with varying age groups has given me the opportunity to use different styles of drama accessible to the whole cast using evocative warm-up activities, including an energy seance (relevant to Derek Acorah's visit to the Palace Theatre), and the use of group voice work which has given the cast a different approach to the warm up session and relating it back to the script at as many opportunities as possible, reinforces the work being done later on in the session.
Part of my role was giving detail and characterisation to one of the main numbers "Tomorrow", which proved to be quite interesting as it was dependent on the behaviour of Bertie the Dog -who turned out to be quite the actor! and our Annies response to detailed direction.
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| Eve and Bertie the Dog (Annie and Sandy) |
It was interesting to see have a go at ways to build a lovable relationship between the two of them, and quickly - as we know most characterisations is musicals are established quickly in the actors opening scenes and developed further in song. Eve responded well to direction and managed to keep Bertie intrigued long enough for her to perform her song to an audience sitting way up in the Palace circle.
They say never work with animals or children but these guys are good examples of breaking a trend!
And I'd like to draw attention to choreographing the Waltz sequence with Liz! Ed and Eve did so well in the show after waltzing for the first time 3 weeks before! Proud moment!
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| Bessie, Craig and Zoe as Rooster and Aggie Hannigan and Lily St Regis |
Some of the older memebers of the company proved to be great role models to the rest of the cast, as successful performers with exciting future prospects, they committed well to their characters.
Sadly it was Bessie and Zoe's last show, but they made sure it was a good one - the audience reactions in the curtain call was a indication of your impact. Good Luck at LCM Zoe!!
Check out Matt Bridge-Wilkinson's two minute video of the whole show - genius guy!
