Wild Things in Bedford!!

Way back in June of this year, I was on my way to a performance venue of the show I was performing in, when it was mentioned that the company would be producing an adaptation of the classic children’s book ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ by Maurice Sendak. At the mention of the name I almost caused an accident by startling the driver with my high pitched shriek! It was casually mentioned that I was being thought of as a potential choreographer/movement director, how very exciting! I was also asked to help out with costume as I’m quite nifty with a sewing machine! I hadn’t said yes yet!! After a couple of days of remembering how fantastic the book was to me when I was younger, I forgot all about it. Well, I was doing another show!

Time rolled along and soon enough it came to September. Emails were flying about, and there was to be a workshop to come up with ideas and to see how things were progressing so far. I was sent some music tracks so that I could put together some movement bits and pieces to play around with. I started to get nervous. I had casually agreed to do it, but inside I was absolutely terrified! I’m not a choreographer! Yes, I may have been dancing since the age of three, but I’m 27 now, and I’ve only ever danced other people’s choreography! Does that make me qualified to boss other people around doing my moves? The panic was overwhelming! Luckily I wasn’t the only one freaking out. My lovely friend David had written the script, and he was equally as nervous. I half expected us both to be quivering in a corner somewhere while everyone annihilated our work.

The day of the workshop rolled around and I was extremely glad to find that I knew everyone there, except one. That made it much better, at least I wouldn’t have complete strangers thinking I was awful, these people were my friends, they would surely break the news to me gently! We started off by doing some actor warm-ups, followed by learning the songs that had been composed for the show, and then it was my turn. I only worked with a group of four, as the boys were playing around with costumes and props, so it was left to me and the girls to work some monster magic!

And amazingly, it went really well! Everyone learned the routine really quickly and when it came to showing the rest of the group, they laughed in all of the appropriate places when my humorous choreography called for it and everyone seemed to be having a lovely time! Huzzah!
I had time to relax afterwards as it was David’s turn to squirm as we took to the floor to act out some of his script. And yet again we had so much fun! All of my nerves had disappeared, David began to smile and we all realised that this was going to be a fabulous show!

The next step was trying to find actors! I had to come up with two routines for the audition, for a group of an unknown number. I left it pretty much to the last minute as I work better under pressure, so I spent an hour sat in Starlight Dance studios girls toilets listening to my iPod and dancing around trying to come up with something! I thought it turned out pretty good considering my location!

The audition day came around and I arrived at the theatre full of excitement. When I walked in there were only two girls waiting and there wasn’t much time left before we were due to start. I was half relieved, less people to judge me! It got to start time and one more girl had arrived. I could cope with that! As there were an odd number, I joined in with the auditionees which made me more relaxed as I could forget about my impending doom! But yet again I was surprised and pleased with how everything went. The routine was picked up easily and it looked fabulous! And the boss was pleased! Bonus! This was going to be easier than I thought!

A few days ago I received my script and immediately fell in love with it. I was cast as Eighties (my favourite decade fact fans!), and a couple of my ideas from the workshop had made it into the script and I got to play them! Hooray! I battled with my printer to get a hard copy in my hands and put it all into a nice shiny folder! And then came last night, the first script read-through! Three out of the four Wild Things were there, we got to try on costumes (I got the one I wanted, yippee!) and read the script out loud with appropriate gusto! All of the tech people were there, as well as the composer and designers and it felt marvellous! Myself and two of the other Wild Things worked together last Christmas too, so it felt like I had come home. One of them stated last year that he absolutely refused to sing or dance and yet he has willingly signed up to endure both of these! I can’t wait to make him dance!

I had already spent a couple of days working on costumes and props with a few others, and had also spent time lurking in the woods dressed as a Wild Thing for promo photos, but last night was the best fun of them all!

Rehearsals start on 19th November so there’s really not a lot of time left! I suppose I should get on with some choreography rather than sitting here typing away! I feel so much more confident now and can’t wait to get started! Book your tickets!!