I’m busy and sick at the moment, and a real update will be forthcoming soon, but in the meantime here is the photo of the beautiful ceiling of the marae my grad group and I stayed at on Wednesday night! This visit was the best thing we’ve done this year.

LEFT: Me at age 14 in December 2001, as Belinda Cratchit in A Christmas Carol.
RIGHT: Me at age 22 in July 2010, in the chorus of Cinderella.

Same theatre. Same dressing room. Same costume. Wow. Looking at these two photos is actually kind of weird. A Christmas Carol was the very first show I was ever in with this theatre company, and also the first play I was in outside of school!

I still look recognisable, but my hair is TOTALLY different. It’s at least twice as long, and I never used to wear it curly when I was younger. I hated it and wished it was straight.

I’ve also lost rather a lot of weight. I never realised quite how MUCH, until I tried this costume on again! I’m the same height though.

This post is strange. It has no point. I was just surprised by how I look different, but also the same! I wonder whether I’ll be in another show in this costume in another 9 years time! What on earth will I look like then, at 31!?

Two shows today, but only one photo to post! Two shows tomorrow and then we’re halfway through the season!

Standing at the top of the stairs by the dressing rooms, looking down into the wings. You can see the pumpkin/coach and the ugly sisters’ sedan taxi!

Funniest incident, during the pumpkin/coach/horse/ballgown/etc scene
*FG says lines and waves wand*
*light flicker*
*coach rolls out*
*Cinderella ducks into the wings and I duck out (to “double” for her – we look completely different but it fools small children, lol!)*
*FG waves wand some more*
*horse comes out*
*small child in audience looks at me*
Small child: That’s not Gavella!¹
Parent: Shhhhhh!
*FG, both people inside the horse and I are ALL struggling not to laugh*

1. She is one of the stepsisters. She is also played by a MAN, who wears a brown curly wig somewhat similar to my hair! [↩]

Third show tonight! Nothing terribly memorable happened, aside from one little child in the front row calling out “I don’t like him!” every time one of the ugly stepsisters appeared! Too funny!

I signed quite a few programmes tonight, which was unusual – kids aren’t generally very interested in talking to the people in the chorus, they usually go straight over to Cinderella and the fairies and start mobbing them!

The caramel slice somebody brought into the dressing room tonight. It was AMAZING!

The King. It’s a running joke in this show that the King is very fat. He tries to eat everything he can get his hands on, and the children in the audience are encouraged to shout “NOOOO!!” every time they see him trying to do it. It’s hilarious!

Bimble and Bumble, the King’s servants.

Four shows in the next two days! Fun times!

Tonight was our second show, and, luckily for us, we did not experience the “flatness” that second performances sometimes have! We had another full house tonight, which was awesome, and tonight our director told us that there are less than 100 tickets left for the whole rest of the season!

Good audience tonight too, quite a few little kids that got quite into the audience participation part! Also, a couple of friends of mine from TColl came tonight. When I spoke to them afterwards they said they’d really enjoyed it, and one of them is now considering auditioning for the next kids show!

The Duke and the Bad Fairy.

Me with the guy who plays the other Footman. I never realised how short I am!

Cinderella and the Prince