techs, full runs, and dance practices!

Originally our tech run was supposed to be on the 15th December (day before open day) but we luckily got the chance to start doing the tech run on the 11th December on the Thursday. We started off by doing a 'que to que' this did take long but we was told it was expected to be long. We had to make sure the lighting and the sound effects were in the right place for the show, lots of us agreed it was lucky we got to do this on the Thursday as when rehearsing, some of the sound effects were coming to early or late so the production team had a lot more time to get used to them.

After the que to que, we did a full run of the show with the lights for the first time and in our costumes which we had done before. This boosted everybody and gave us a buzz for the show. Having the sound effects sometimes affected us because we was so used to not having any that we forgot they was coming sometimes or was not sure when they were.

Ella went through the 'chase scene' with us as it needed a lot of improvement. It started off by music being added which gave a better atmosphere, and then Ella made a routine for me, Lily and Jack. It also involved us going into the audience's seats which was funny. Then Ella added the idea of turning the scene slow motion when me, Lily, and Jack returned to the stage and when I reached the top of the stairs Michael would shout 'AFTER HIM' which made it return to normal speed to run off. I thought this was such a fun idea and so good, although I did struggle with it at first as I went a bit too fast considering it was 'slow motion', and I found it so funny it was hard not to laugh but after doing it a few times I felt a lot more confident with it.

Here is a video of the chase scene when we first did it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw8swbUMKLA

Eventually on this day we got about three runs done, and this was our last proper rehearsal before the tech run as Ella would not be here on the next day so we would not see Ella till the Monday.

The next day, we had Chloe have everyone go through the songs seeing who did/didn't know the song lyrics and then have the people who are actually in the song do the dance and song. This helped a lot of us, as some of us struggled with dance moves/lyrics. This also gave Jodie a chance to sort out the formations of the dances as the set affected them as it took up a lot of space.

On the Monday was our last ever day of rehearsals as our show started the next day. We was called in at 8:30 am, many of the cast including me was very poorly. By everyone being sick it made it very hard to rehearse such as trying not to cough backstage or on stage for that matter, feeling tired so not giving 100% effort in rehearsing, even some people throwing up when not on stage which gave a negative vibe across the cast. This also longed out the day as some people went to the doctors. I have never been in a show when the week of the show nearly the whole cast was very sick, it was a new experience for me and it shows that no matter what the show MUST go on.

Apart from everyone being poorly, we managed to get three full run rehearsals in the day, after all that we got given notes as per, but most of them involved the fact we was sick such as coughing backstage, but we knew the show must continue and we must push the sickness to one side.