Article for 2014 Jun 16

2014

2014 Jun

Jun 16 Mon

Oh mercy, mercy, mercy me! I’ve just watched a run-through of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and that ending... half the kids don’t know the choreography, and even fewer know the words. The first performance is two weeks on Thursday in front of hundreds of people and I don’t want the Jigsaw name tarnished or the kids to make fools of themselves (except for our Emperor, of course - that’s kinda the crux of the story). What am I to do?

There’s little I can do. Little except trust that they’ll all take the time over the next couple of weeks to master their lines and cues and movements. There’s a little more I can do. While they’re waiting to go on, I can and will proffer a few words of encouragement and a few reminders to be loud as a lion, proud as a peacock, and (for the most part) face the front.

Beyond trust and verbiage, there’s nothing I can do. No reason to beat myself up about it. And no reason to beat the actors (metaphorically!) up about it either: it is true that we only blocked the finale on Saturday, and I know their youthful brains are really absorbent, even of the alliteration- and archaism-filled tongue-twisters I call lyrics, and they will make sure they’re fully prepared.

So now it’s time to relax, and anticipate the superbness of another Jigsaw show.

Note from Thursday 3rd July: They were superb. This article is just me being a drama queen.