‘Oliver’ Diaries: My First Rehearsal! (9th February 2018)


It was the last day of term, the day that Summer and I were going to get ‘Three Monkeys’ and the day of my first rehearsal. Needless to say, I was ecstatic!


Entering the rehearsal, my worry was that I had no idea how to pronounce “Plummy and slam” in a cockney accent, which – again – turned out to be much smaller of a problem than expected. Upon seeing these words, Mrs. Culkin reacted by asking “What on earth is that?” to which I responded with “It’s the password to Fagin’s den,” leading her to pretend to act like she "totally knew that!"

When it got to my part, Bet and I walked up to the wings of the stage, me having almost fallen before even getting on to the steps! “Plummy and slam!” I shouted, in an accent that I hoped at least slightly resembled that of a Cockney.

After playing around with the staging of the scene, we eventually reached the decision that we would swap my next line around in order for it to make more sense. “We’ll have less of that if you don’t mind! Where’s the gin?” I said, convinced I had followed the instruction. After realising my mistake, we started over and eventually got to the song, ‘It’s A Fine Life.’

I hadn’t been through this song with Miss Bailey at all, but I did love it and was eager to sing it! When I was asked if I wanted a sing-song, the others seemed eager too! I sang through the song with the others, following Mrs. Culkin's instructions - interacting with the pickpockets, for example - as she choreographed it.  Surprisingly, the interaction came rather naturally as I sang! I’m unsure of whether it was because the pickpockets love Nancy, or because the other actors and I get along well in real life, but I quickly realised that this song would be one of my favourites to perform!  Mrs. Culkin said she found the end of the song really sad, but I know I still need to add more emotion to it.

My first rehearsal was over and, as always with theatre, I left wanting more!

Join me next time to find out how our first rehearsal of act 2, scene 1 went!

-Zahra♥




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