@7 Summer Fair

Summer Fair.  I wrote this way back in early July, when the days were hot and dusty and, in the long evenings, the sound of clinking glasses and playful banter could be heard floating effortlessly in the air, punctuated occasionally by light wafts of wind!  Or something like that.  Now it's not so hot...

Summer is here (and has been here for a while).  In fact, it's bloomin' hot here in the South of France. The grass is getting brown already and the leaves on the trees are beginning to curl up sadly.  But, that isn't what this blog is about.  It's about a short but sweet moment in the panto year -: The summer fair.  A lovely snippit of bygone days with a traditional British feel set in the Montessori School grounds (also known for being where the 'STORES' are) in Merville.  The event has lots of stalls - tombola, bottles, crafts, bric a brac.  It has refreshments - teas, fish n chips, British bangers (marvellous sausages).  Panto has a stall too.  We hang up posters and try to get people interested in coming to the next panto.  Most people who visit the fair actually know about panto already, but occasionally there is someone new to entrap, I mean... inform.

This year we decided to try to sell off a few things that have been gathering dust in the 'STORES'  (thankfully not covered in rat pooh).  Here we are (with a little help from Nicole, Richard and Joss), a bunch of happy souls,  finishing sorting out the props and finding things to sell:

Panto fans!

Happy helpers!

Not much there to be honest.  We gave Maria from the school some bric a brac for her stall and then found that we just had some umbrellas and a couple of large cuddly lions to sell on our stall.  But not to worry, Karin had gathered a batch of costumes that would probably not have a place in future pantos (sometimes it's easier to make things from scratch than to alter things to a different size).  So, with a few mugs from last year's Cinderella panto, the umbrellas, the lions and lots of costumes, we had a good amount to sell.

We managed to sell quite a few things (including the cuddly lions - ahh!) and made a total of 75 euros for this year's panto charity: 'Tous pour Jeanne et Jeanne pour tous' (here's the link to the charity if you would like to find out more http://jeannepitchoune.over-blog.com)

Not bad really.  Of course, running the stall was no hardship.  With a tasty English sausage bap, a pint of shandy and the happy sound of Morris dancers prancing around on the grass in the sunshine... All topped off with some happy panto helpers chatting and sharing their (very lovely) chips...Perfect!  Here are some of the helpers, working very hard behind the panto stall:

More panto helpers arrived to sell the goodies after I left and, by the end of the day, had sold off quite a few costumes, umbrellas and mugs as well as the second big cuddly lion (ahh!). It was good to see those go off to a good home rather than sitting waiting to be rat fodder in the stores.  And making a small contribution to panto charity too.

It was a good day and a good panto thing to do, especially after the hassle of auditions the week before.

And not a chicken in sight! (Just a few ducks)

#6 Help! AUDITIONS!

Auditions...ARRGGGHHH!


Well, I've got a little behind... (no I don't mean I have a small rear!) I mean behind with this blog! I've got behind for many reasons, one of which is that we've been busy as little busy bees preparing 'stuff' for this year's auditions for Puss in Boots.  Actually, as I'm writing this,  the auditions have been and gone and all is calm again.  For a while, however, things were a frenzy of heightened activity and hyper tension.

So, let me tell you about it:
The thought of auditioning has been known to strike dread into the hearts of many a seasoned SPS panto actor.  Yes, some of us are filled with wobble-kneed, jelly bellied nervyness!  Some may say they aren't, but I don't believe them.

This year has been my third SPS audition from this side of the fence (as director).  I've done five others from the other side (as a wobble-kneed, jelly bellied nervy person).  I can't really say which is worse: auditioning for- or choosing- the cast.  Actually I can.  It's so much worse having to choose people!  I absolutely dread it.  That's because I'm a bit of a chicken (not a prancing panto chicken, but a cowardly chicken).  It's not the auditions themselves I dread, it's just the deciding who to put where and having to say to people they haven't got the role they want, or they haven't even got a role at all.  'Oh poor director!' you shout with leaden irony. Yes, I know it's probably worse not getting a role than telling someone they haven't got a role.  However, sorting out the great jigsaw puzzle of putting people into roles takes a lot of time and brain ache.  I'm being honest.  I don't like it!  It may be worse because SPS is an amateur company and has only small numbers of people going for each role, so anyone left out really feels it.  Sometimes there are just the right number of people to fit all the roles but, even when that's the case, the difficulty is placing everyone so that they'll be as happy as possible with the outcome.  Yes, I know you can't please all the people all the time, but it's good to try.

So now rewind back to the day of the auditions - Saturday, 6th June.  Questionnaires are in, we know who will turn up to audition (kind of).  Script extracts have been prepared, lots of emails sent out and warm up preparation done.  I'm afraid I was a little disorganised this time and when I turned up on the day, the paperwork in my folder was all higgledy piggledy!  I don't think it mattered.  We managed to fit in most things throughout the day.  Choreographer Mel R and her assistants (Izzy and Ellie) got stuck in to the dance audition bright and early with a bunch of enthusiastic dancers.  I was amazed how quickly they all picked up the routines - I'm always in awe of that because I am so bad at it.  I don't know how they get the message from their eyes to their brain then to their feet and hands so quickly.  So, a couple of dance routine practises later and they had to show their moves.  They were all good!  A quick crust of bread and mouldy cheese with Mel, Fran and Cathy B on the hard, bare concrete steps outside the theatre (sadly no time for restaurant with wine - I feel your sympathy here) and we were back inside and the acting auditions started.  We had around 30 people auditioning for acting roles.  We all did a quick warm up and then sang 'she'll be coming 'round the mountain'... with suitable gusto.  Next we made our way through the day starting with group reading in a circle and then individual auditions.

No photos available but these sketches are an actual representation of what happened

This chicken was offered a main role.  She was eggstatic until she realised she would have to wear a novelty animal costume. 

Then, before we could say 'NEXT!' it was 6pm and the whole thing was nearly finished.
There was just time to ask a couple of quick, but vital,  questions to everyone:  'Who is prepared to do a role that involves being covered in loads of 'gloop'?' and 'Who is prepared to do a role that involves prancing around in a novelty animal costume?'.  Then, after most people expressed that they wouldn't mind being covered in 'gloop' or wearing a novelty animal costume... (for fear of not getting a role at all), we could all go home.

That evening my head was buzzing and aching and it was hard to switch off from the day's information overload.  Ahhh, that's sad!  No, it's much sadder than that... Ahhh!  But I did finally switch off...ZZZZZzzzzzzzz only to wake up three times in the night in a cold sweat.  What? When? How? Who? Which one? Why? Whom?...  It was a long fretful night (I only have myself to blame).

Cockadoodledoo!  (chicken heralds the dawn!).  The next day Fran, Cathy and I returned to the darkened theatre to discuss our ideas.  This was the worst bit and there was more head frazzling.  But we got there in the end.  Most people seemed happy with their roles, some were positively over the moon! (Yay!) and I was happy because we managed to get everyone in (with a few adjustments to the script!) Phew!

So, that's it.  All done.  Hypertension over.  The cast is set and we're off...

Worst bit over? Yeah!

Blog @5 Chicken!

CLUCK! CLUCK! CLUCK!

This blog has been prompted by the appearance of a chicken in my front garden.  After a little commotion, the chicken has now been cornered, captured and returned to my neighbour's house. Unfortunately no eggs left behind!

So, what has that got to do with panto?  What has a chicken got to do with panto? Some may say 'not much', but, as you may have noticed, I have a particular fondness for chicken in panto.  I mean, who couldn't love such a comical bird?  And who couldn't agree that a chicken is a perfect panto bird?

This clock served it's time!
Time's up for the clock!
You can't turn back the clock!

So this brings me on to SPS panto traditions.  If you read the last blog post about the 'STORES', the 'famous' SPS cuckoo clock was mentioned.  This clock has been around for many past pantos and was, at one time, a vital piece of scenery.  In recent times, however, it's been sidelined (but not ditched).  Now it sits in the stores, waiting for a future appearance (it'll be lucky!).  Maybe it's time to start a 'bring back the clock' pressure group?  Can I hear your mind ticking over that thought?






Another SPS panto tradition is the chicken (you knew I was coming to that didn't you?). The chicken was often seen in a 'walk on' part during many pantos over the years.  That walk on chicken had such an impact on me in the audience that I instantly wanted to be that chicken.

After moving to France and seeing my first SPS panto in Pibrac (it was Sleeping Beauty in 2003), I thought I'd like to have a go at being involved.  Later that year, I left a message on the telephone number provided saying 'If you need someone to be the chicken, I would be very happy to fill that role'... I had no reply!  Another panto came and went (Wizard of Oz I think) and I turned up at the panto AGM in spring, ever hopeful that I could be the chicken in the next production.  Unfortunately at that time there was no vacancy for the job and I was told quite firmly (yes, quite firmly) that 'we already have a chicken'.  That sad event only put me off for a couple of years (3 actually!).  So in 2007, with my heart in my mouth I ventured out on a hot and sizzling day to the auditions for Way out West.  And yeehaa! I had the good fortune this time to get a part on stage.  It was not the chicken, but I was content. I have to say that I had my eye on a cameo part of Elvis Presley but realised, after embarrassing myself by singing 'TeddyBear' with all the men in the audition, that I was not the man for the job!  This was not the last time that I embarrassed myself at a panto audition by singing an Elvis song, but that particular story is still too painful to tell! By the way,  there wasn't a chicken in 'Way out West'.

Just to round off this little story... Several years later I became the panto director and was keen to bring the chicken back.  Thankfully my production colleagues agreed that there was a place in 'Jack and the Beanstalk' for a chicken, so the chicken was back! (with a new costume because the old one had clucked off somewhere never to be seen again).

Ben S as 'chicken licken' in Jack and the Beanstalk
accompanied by Daisy the Cow!

Then I got that fluffy chicken into 'Robin Hood' as well - yay!

Patrick F as 'Plucky chicken' in Robin Hood
accompanied by a selection of archers!

Now this year's panto is Puss in Boots, set in the wild west - can I get a chicken into that panto?  You bet your boots I can!  But, the burning question is:  who will have the honour of donning the freshly laundered chicken suit?  Could it be me?  I wish that were possible, but unfortunately for me, someone else will have that most illustrious of roles: the small but beautifully formed cameo chicken role. You'll just have to wait and see. Perhaps it could be you?

Just for the record - I really don't bear a grudge about those wilderness years following the chicken rebuff - my psychiatrist says I'm nearly over it!

Right, now you've read this, cluck off  - but not for too long - there will be another cluckin' blog post soon!

Blog #4 The stores - aladdin's (and everyone else's) cave

'THE STORES'

Where on earth does all that stuff go after each SPS panto has finished?

Some of the less useful items will be binned; the rest goes to...

'THE STORES !

Each year, at the end of the last show, once the roar of the grease and the smell of the crowd has subsided, an enormous effort is required to stash away all the costumes, props, worsels and wizbits, fluff and nonsense that linger.  For the most part, they end up in the STORES!

Storage of stuff was always a big headache for SPS in the past, but for the past few years we've been lucky enough to have use of the barn at the Montessori school near Grenade.  In return for the storage space, a team of SPS navies have helped to make the barn useable by building and mending bits of the building. 
Although this is my third time at directing SPS panto, I've never actually made it up to the 'STORES'.  So, a few weeks ago, I plucked up the courage and travelled - through blistering blizzards, searing heat, high mountains and low valleys - to reach this cavern of intrigue.  My intention was to help a bit with some sorting of 'stuff'.  I had a vague idea of what I might find, but my expectations of finding treasure were low ...  but COR BLIMEY, there's a lot of stuff in there! And what treasure...It's like a hoarder's heaven!

When you enter the 'STORES', the first thing you see is a huge pile of wood.  Loads and loads of wood.  More wood.  Some bits are recognisable as something; a table and chairs perhaps. Some bits have a hint of their former self.

Anyone recognise this?  Harduppo Hall door from 'Cinderella'!

But we all know that later in the year, that pile of wood will be transformed into something pretty spectacular as usual.  The very accomplished scenery crew do it.  I have always wanted to be able to construct things from wood (and I have tried many times but the results are bad and usually wonky).  I have very limited carpentry skills.  This is not surprising because if I haven't got the right tools handy, I'll use whatever is nearby.  I often knock nails in with a tin of soup or paperweight, maybe a shoe (not very good because I don't have any with proper heels).  I once used a can of beer as a hammer - it exploded and made a lot more work cleaning up than just going to the garage to get the hammer! But enough of that...

To the right of the wood pile area is a smaller 'room'.  This is full with big metal trunks (and a Darlek!).

Darlek guarding the costume store!

In those trunks are several pantos worth of costumes.  Millions of costumes, in fact. Yeah millions!

Fran, Karin and Ann-yi, that brave and incredibly organised trio, have been there for weeks sorting out this 'costume department'. 

Karin takes no prisoners when photographing the costumes.

Although this plucky job had been started a few years ago by previous intrepid panto pioneers, sadly many old costumes have been turned into varmits nests, so had to be chucked out.

The varmits have been!

Now most of the costumes (did I say there are loads of them?) are safely stashed away in rat-proof trunks.  And the painstaking process of cataloging the whole panto wardrobe collection has been completed.  Each item of clothing, each hat, each pair of shoes, belts, gloves, frilly things, have all been photographed, packed away and recorded on a computer spreadsheet. Marvellous.  I say 'respect' to those who have done this mighty task - before and now.

Ooo! Lovely shiny costumes packed in their trunk

I arrived just at the end of the process (shame!) and had a mere glimpse of what lies in those trunks.  Some costumes are from pantos long past and are a bit puzzling!

Who wore this? How? And... why?

Next, it's time to sort out the props!  The first job is to wade through the rat poo and discard anything that's been eaten, nested in or peed upon! It's fascinating opening up all the boxes and bags and finding all sorts of interesting objects...

Treasure indeed!

But what on earth could this be?
A retractable sword of course!

I enjoyed my rummage through the props (apart from the rat poo and pee). It's a bit of a nostalgia trip for me.  I saw things I'd used in some the the pantos I've been in.  I was very excited when I found the giant underpants I made for 'Jack and the Beanstalk'.  I've nabbed them to 'look after' at home (I don't think they'll be used again - even giants don't want second hand underpants). I will be using them as a bedspread of course.  Other props may trigger a memory for others involved in panto.  A couple of skulls - 'Treasure island', 'Peter Pan'...  These are certain to be used again.

'Hamlet' the panto? Nah, too depressing.

That's better!

I'll bet loads of SPS panto people recognise this one:

Top of the props, and the old clock (yes, it's still there)

And I spy some wagon wheels in the background ripe for recycling (yeehaa!).


After all that rummaging a cup of tea was most definitely needed.  And a piece of cake too.

Nice cuppa!

'STORES' selfie

Back to the Darlek - the question is:  'Is is a prop? Is is a costume? (someone did 'wear' it) Or, is is scenery?

Whatever it is, it wasn't much use for EXTERMINATING the vermin.  We love it though.  It may never be used in panto again, but it's a fabulous nostalgia piece from the SPS 25th birthday production of 'Snow White'. 

By the way, I wasn't joking about it guarding the stores.  I swear I saw it twitch as I left the room!
 

blog # 3 - the poster

The poster - Puss in Boot and fur ball free! 

Does that cat look familiar?

At first glance, he may seem very like the Puss in Boots seen in the film 'Shrek' (which is a good thing, and that makes sense if you've read the previous blog post).  Don't worry, he is purrrfectly legitimate and we're not breeching copyright.  On very close inspection, this is not quite the Puss in Boots from 'Shrek'.  This Puss in Boots is missing one or two things that make him sufficiently different to the original Puss.  Can you spot what they are?  No? Well, all you need to know is that, without those vital appendages, there's no doubt that he is a completely different cat!  

We think this poster is just right for our panto this year.  I really like it, I hope you do too!

Many thanks to Daren B for this marvellous poster, and the incredible speed in which he produced it! (We had a very close deadline this year and Daren 'bust a gut' to get this poster ready for the TMP (Theatre Musical Pibrac) brochure.

This is the newest addition to a long line of great SPS posters from the last 30 years.  If you haven't already seen them, check out the website - a lot of them can be seen on there:
www.secretpantosociety.com



Next blog coming soon - I have lots of blogs to post in order to get up to date.  Thanks for reading them so far!



P.S. I managed to write this post without mentioning a chicken...  Oh, darn it!

blog # 2 - the script

The script - The foundation of the panto.   I'm afraid Blog # 2 is a bit wordy - I got a bit carried away (thankfully it's not as long as the script though!).

THE SCRIPT:  PUSS in BOOTS, a wild west panto.

scribble and scrawl of the script

This script (in the nicely contrived picture on the left) took about three weeks to write  - not sure of the actual hours but writing doesn't take long really.  There's a lot of sitting and thinking and bits of research involved (yes, real research), as well as actual writing.  Also, there's plenty of scribbling out, loads of doodling (loads) and some ripping out of pages.  Also, plenty of tea drinking and chocolate eating (including a couple of creme eggs - that is not a chicken reference).  Anyway, enough of that. It's done now, about a month ago in fact (this blog is a bit behind!).  Yay!

If you happen to be interested, here's a bit (a lot?) more detail:

Hatching an idea and a script:

my well-loved ladybird book

Although the story of Puss in Boots is fairly well known, it is not really a good story to fit into a pant (! the autocorrect on my computer keeps changing panto into pant - does it change pantos into pants? No!).  My main research for this story was my old ladybird book 'Puss in Boots'  (there it is in the picture on the right).  It tells the story of a cat (aka Puss in Boots) who tricks the King and his daughter, the Princess,  into thinking that his master, the miller's son, is a wealthy landowner and Marquis. This is to get the King to approve of the miller's son marrying the Princess.  Somewhere along the way, Puss gets the miller's son to jump into a river and pretend that he has had his clothes stolen.  The King helps him out and gives him some new clothes (very nice posh marquis style clothes!). The plan works out swimmingly until Puss has to find a home for the miller's son (the pretend Marquis) to impress the King and Princess when they visit.  The clever Puss finds a castle owned by a shape shifting ogre.  He then tricks the ogre into turning into a mouse and eats him up so that his castle can be taken by his master (the pretend Marquis).  The King and Princess visit the castle and are impressed!  So finally the miller's son, now established as a Marquis can marry his daughter, because he has a nice house! (Well, the story goes something like that!).

Now that you've read all that, I'm afraid to say this story isn't really much like the one I've written in the script!

Although I used to really like my ladybird book story when I was young (actually, I liked the pictures mainly), I don't think it's that great for a pant or a panto.  It isn't a good idea to have Puss tricking and deceiving the king and the princess all the time, and it's not good form having the miller's son (as the principal boy) going along with it all. The main protagonists have to have good moral standards don't they?  I'm not the only one who thinks that.  When you look at Puss in Boots panto scripts to buy on the internet, lots of them have stories that don't really follow the original tale.

So this is how our idea for a script came about: We decided that we fancied doing a panto set in the American wild west, but (listening to wise words of doubt) we realised it would be a good idea to pick a panto that children would relate to as well.   Many people recognise the Puss in Boots character in Shrek.  That superb Puss even has his own film now.  We didn't want to follow the story in the film at all, but decided the connection was useful to encourage people to want to come and see a panto about a Puss in Boots.  It's important to remember that we are performing our shows in France, so it's nice if the story or the character is known to the French (and other nationalities) as well as all the British expats who live here.  So, American wild west + Puss in Boots = Puss in Boots in the wild west, of course!  It's not unusual to find a well known story placed into a different setting (Cinderella, last year's SPS panto, written by Ben Crocker, was set in Venice).  There is a version of Cinderella set in the wild west available to buy, but I don't think anyone has written a wild west version of Puss in Boots yet.

Once we'd decided on this Puss in Boots/wild west combo, I sat down at my dining room table and wrote it.  There are lots of things to consider when writing the script - scenery changes, costume changes, timing, where to put a chicken into the plot*.  It's important to have a story that fits the basic panto format:  introduce the main characters, set up the story, bring in the baddie and the threat to the good characters, have a bit of slapstick, get the principal girl and boy together, bit more story, maybe a journey or quest, bit more baddie stuff, overcome the baddie, have a celebration, a bit more fluffy stuff and then it's done! Amongst all that, there are a couple of scenes that have nothing to do with the story - they are just there to add entertainment, for example the slapstick scene (custard pies and gloop!).  And then there are songs and dances to fit in... And the chicken*.

There can also be other factors to consider for our particular theatre group. Our SPS panto is amateur (by name, not by nature, of course!) and usually has lots of people wanting to be on stage. So including a few extra minor characters can help provide roles for a few more people on stage.  When all those characters are added, they have to have something to do! There might be a few extra lines for them, but mainly they say dialogue and do jobs that other principal characters would normally say and do.  Unfortunately, whilst trying to please people by providing more roles, it makes things more complicated and rehearsals are like Piccadilly Circus.   I have tried to avoid this happening, but it'll be my own fault if I end up having to direct lots of 'traffic' on stage - I won't be able to blame anyone except the silly fool who wrote the script!

Once the script was written, I had to type up the bloomin' thing!
Here's the 1st draft all typed up  - carefully placed in the photo so as to avoid any spoilers!

For my own benefit:
Inside my ladybird book I noticed, with surprise, that I had been practising a bit of French!  

Je m'appelle Catherine (should be spelt Kathryn!).

*footnote:

Please note, chickens are not always necessary in traditional British panto!

Blog #1 - What's it all about? An Introduction...

This blog is mostly about... a traditional British panto in the South of France.  In particular it is about the panto performed by the Secret Pantomime Society.  SPS is an amateur theatre group in Pibrac, a small town just outside of Toulouse.

For now, I thought I'd write about what goes on behind the scenes throughout the SPS year.  I'd like this blog to show background snippets of the workings of this panto from start to finish throughout the year - January 2015 to January 2016.  I'm doing this for my own benefit as a diary and for anyone to read who might be interested.

So I'll begin...

Around December to January each year a little panto egg is laid by the 'panto chicken'  .  The egg hatches just after the last show of the previous panto, and by the following January it has become (all being well) a beautiful clucky show chicken!

pantomime chicken with fresh 2016 panto egg!

That clucky lady is a rather fine bird by the time she's ready to do seven shows, but there is a lot of growing to do in order to get her show-ready.  We will follow the progress of our panto 2016 egg shortly after it has hatched, and I will show you how it grows! But, enough of the daft chicken metaphors...

Actually I haven't started this blog right at the beginning, it's already April!  Never mind.  I will start from the beginning, it's a very good place to start... Next blog will be about how we had the idea of which panto to do, and the script.

As I am a bit behind with this, I'd better crack on!

(no chickens in the next blog post!)


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