12th Night.... summer project 2008!
Twelfth
Night all started with a little meeting in Ali Morley's front room, we
were
discussing putting on a Shakespeare play over a cup of tea. We were
umming and aahing
over whether to do ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream or something less
conventional. On the plus side we had already rehearsed and performed a
few
scenes from A Midsummer Night’s Dream so we also had some costumes.
However, it was about then that Jack and I had recently received our
English
GCSE 'packs' and the Shakespeare play we had to study was none other
than Twelfth
Night., This set the ball rolling and we tentatively settled upon this
to
be the play that we would perform.
It then fell to us to decide who would take which roles, I immediately
appointed
myself co-director in chief, Jack became producer- come- director,
Ruthy,
costumes, and Ali was fondly known as 'person at the top' and
co-director. She was
basically the one we turned to when things went wrong. As soon as we
had got
the important stuff out of the way we started with the play itself. I
will
always remember the feeling I got when we opened the Morley's copy of
'The
Complete Works'. The first thing we noticed was just how long it really
was! We
started then and there to search the internet for a script which we
would print
off. With a freshly printed script in hand we traipsed back
to the sitting
room, and
so the chopping process started. It took us a good few weeks snatching
a few
hours here and a few there, but we managed and so the script we used
was born.
Next we needed a cast, and so we sent out an open invitation to all
those
interested to attend a 'Shakespeare' meeting at Ali's. We were
astounded by how
many people seemed interested in being involved. We divided up the
parts, I
decided to take a smaller part so that I could devote more time to
directing,
so I chose Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Jack became Duke Orsino, simply
because he
wanted a non soppy part. Ruthy became Maria. Ali took the part of
Antonio.
After that it was work, work, work, cake, cake, cake.
We had to look around the Island to find our venue for the actual
performance.
I will never forget the look on peoples faces when Jack and I (the
children)
started talking business with them while the adult with us, Ali, took a
back
seat. It was decided that we would use Ryde Studio Theatre. The
rehearsals
began and so the time passed.
The day Ali and Ruthy showed us the first of the costumes was a
milestone for
me. From there we progressed in leaps and bounds, from one great
point to another!
The first and only on site dress rehearsal went fairly well, although I
think a
few people felt that it hadn't gone as well as it could have done. The
night
though. Wow! It went without a hitch, there were only two prompts
needed
throughout the entire thing, and I was so proud of how well everyone
had done!
They had excelled.
It was at the after show party that the idea to make it into a film
started
rolling around! It was an almost unanimous decision to take it that one
step
further, we wanted to do something that would not only be remembered
but would
also be something the 'Zone' hadn't done before. We knew our man with
the
cameras and so we put forward the idea to him. He agreed to give it a
go, and
so we started location hunting. Our first 'shoot' was at the Duver and
it was
quite a learning curve! After that however we learned from our mistakes
and
steadily improved, our shoots stopped running in stops and starts and
started
running smoothly and with a confidence we gained as we progressed. They
got
better and better, people would be fed up and worn out, and then, like
a
saviour angel Judy would appear over the horizon bearing trays of
pizza, yummy
slab, and much else! Needless to say morale got some pretty huge boosts
thanks
to Judy, and all the other people who brought cake, biscuits, muffins
or other
edible products.
After we had finished shooting, Chris devoted a huge amount of time to
editing
the different takes together, assembling each scene, putting scenes end
to end
and creating acts, adding acts to acts and creating our final cut. But
this
wasn't the end of his work, then he had to fiddle with audio add the
superb
music score, composed by Pete. Then after all this he found the
strength to
design a cover for the DVD.
After all this you would have thought we would have been sick and tired
of the
entire damned thing. And so we were, but, we were not going to let
something
that had become such a central part of our lives for so long end
without some
kind of occasion. Thus the planning of the premiere started, people
were
assigned duties, table decorations here, food there. We started
planning before
the summer holidays, which I think in retrospect, was a mistake, as so
many
people had other things on their minds during these weeks off. But
everything
still got done! The night of the premiere came around and the cast and
parents
did us proud, turning out in their best!
Posh frocks, tailcoats and dinner jackets were in abundance We sat down
had
some speeches, then we watched the film! There were a privileged few of
us who
had seen it already, but to most it remained a new experience, there
were
mouths dropping open left right and centre! It is an amazing feeling
seeing
yourself in something so professional!
After the premiere I think we all felt that we could close the book on
that era
of our lives. And I know it is, and was, one of the most amazing things
I will
ever do. I feel privileged to have worked with people who supported the
project
from beginning to end. It was joy to experience the feeling of making
our own
film, and I hope it is something other people will view with as much
pride and
sense of triumph as I do.
Joe
