5th – 6th December 2019

Quiet, cold, and nervous. That was the atmosphere in the auditorium on December 5th, opening night. On the contrary, the green room was buzzing with everyone rehearsing their lines and practising the moves for the numerous number of dances. As the bell rings silence sweeps over the room. All the full-day Saturday practices, the long school nights rehearsing in the auditorium and the many lunchtimes practising condensed into 3 days of acting.

One of our Saturday rehearsals practising the death scene. Photo: GeckoNet

Oliver Twist is a musical that includes a lot of dark humour about an orphan boy attempting to find a place where he belongs. I played 2 roles one as Mrs Sowerberry who was a very stern and hard woman that constantly criticized her husband, but also had an interest in Mr Bumble. This was a very challenging role for me as I had to act very cold which was out of my comfort zone. However, even though playing this character was very challenging I got to exercise my acting skills and it allowed my acting skills to grow and strengthen. another reason why I found my part challenging is that I had to be stern in the beginning and then overexaggerate my emotions when something happened to me. My part was also comedic because I would have water thrown in my face.

When Ariana threw water in my face. Photo: Mr Lockwood

The other role that I played was a pub girl, we were dancing to the song ‘oom pa pa.’ We were the chorus part of this song so there were a large number of rehearsals spent in Mrs Duncans before we could even think about the dancing. Once we were confident and memorised the song we started blocking the dance. Memorizing the steps were slightly challenging because what we did in our dance had to do with the lyrics we were singing.

The whole line of pub girls dancing to ‘Oom Pa Pa.’ Photo: GeckoNet

Our practices for Oliver were a testament to our commitment and persistence. Tuesdays and Fridays from 4:30 – 6:00, we often had 5-8 hour weekend rehearsals. The beginning rehearsals were mainly blocking with our script in hand but once we had to memorise our line was when it started to go downhill. My scene was very physical which meant we couldn’t really start until we memorized our lines. We had to chase Oliver around the coffin while saying our lines and we’re constantly gasping for breath. What we didn’t take into account is that the auditorium floor was very slippery and we were running… there were a lot of laughs but it wasn’t us.

We had a lot of breaks in between our scenes which would give us opportunities to practice our scenes outside.

The pub scene while Sheruni was singing. Photo: GeckoNet

The last week of rehearsal was when it all finally came together. everyone had finally managed to memorize their lines and we had got all of the lighting and staging ques down. But I don’t think anyone could feel very confident by the day of the production.

My favourite show was the second because after our scene finished the audience gave us a round of applause. You felt a sense of accomplishment, like all of our hard work had been worth it and it gave us so much more energy for the rest of the night. The Gala on the Saturday night was also really enjoyable but we had to change all of our ques because of the dinner seating arrangements. It is a really fun opportunity for the audience to relax and enjoy a meal while watching the production. The 3 days of performing was a perfect example of collaboration as we were supporting each other through each of the performances and pulling each other through the tiering production nights. We had developed a family.

Rehearsing before the gala dinner performance. Photo: GeckoNet

The entire production was an amazing experience and I got to challenge myself with acting and I got to make new friends during thr process.

The last night of the production, giving flowers to Mrs Jackson. Photo: GeckoNet