A Christmas Carol - Woodhouse Players
Jan. 7th, 2009 10:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mirrorshardI went to see this this evening - it's been far too long since I went to see proper amateur theatre, and this is, it seems, really rather a good group. Enthusiastic and friendly, but they clearly know what they're doing. Six weeks' preparation, and they had an opening night with no disasters or nervousness, and a large cast with no fumbling or corpsing. There were a couple of blocking problems, but in the setup they had (the church hall has a prosc & apron, and they were using the space between the apron & the first row for crowd scenes) that's sort of inevitable. Universally good voice work, even from the children, and competent unobtrusive stage management. The stage wasn't too crowded, and everything on it got used. Costumes were good but not wonderful - more or less gestures toward the vague region of the period. Somewhat too clean and well-repaired, but then that's endemic.
I emailed their chairman beforehand, saying I'd be interested in doing tech for them, and she was pleased-but-not-impressed, which is pretty much the ideal reaction from my point of view. It helps that their resident tech geek is clearly very competent, though self-taught and with a bit of a weakness for FX - he Gets It. And they have shiny toys, too. (A Zero 88 Jester and two good moving lights. I feel they're best used in moderation, but they're really useful things to have.)
We shall see how things go - I shall be going to their play-choosing meeting on the 27th, unless something earth-shaking happens, and should be able to get in at the beginning of a new production. I've missed working in the theatre. Readthroughs are good fun, but it's not the same.
I emailed their chairman beforehand, saying I'd be interested in doing tech for them, and she was pleased-but-not-impressed, which is pretty much the ideal reaction from my point of view. It helps that their resident tech geek is clearly very competent, though self-taught and with a bit of a weakness for FX - he Gets It. And they have shiny toys, too. (A Zero 88 Jester and two good moving lights. I feel they're best used in moderation, but they're really useful things to have.)
We shall see how things go - I shall be going to their play-choosing meeting on the 27th, unless something earth-shaking happens, and should be able to get in at the beginning of a new production. I've missed working in the theatre. Readthroughs are good fun, but it's not the same.
