Another "What I Did Over The Summer" non-Disney thread

[alan]

The ROSS Performance School is a Summer School to teach acting and stage technique to adult students. It has been running for over fifty years, and attracts students from the UK, Madeira, USA, and even occasional visitors from Australia! I used to be a regular attendee, but family life has prevented this for the past few years. This year, however, I was able to go and here are a few photos and background story to my week.

On the journey down, I had a hard time believing that this was in face a summer school. This was August, for heaven's sake! But the rain was incessant:


However, after a five hour drive I arrived in Scarborough and unpacked into my student room. The Grand Floridian it wasn't, but it was adequate:


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Sunday was a day of auditions. Each of the three classes is taken in turn, and anyone wanting to audition for a principal role auditions in front of the rest of the School. I chose Class C - we were performing an extract from Copacabana. The girls auditioned first, then the boys, then the girls from Class B, and so on. That took us until lunchtime.

After lunch, the results were announced. Now, there are two performances at the end of the week; one in the afternoon and one in the evening. I was given the role of Steven/Tony in one of the shows (the main goodie). Them to my surprise, I found that I had the role of Rico in the other one! He is the main baddie

Sunday afternoon was spent rehearsing the music (not too many exciting pictures of that, I'm afraid). On Sunday evening, there was a singalong of songs from Joseph in the theatre.

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On Monday, we spent the morning and early part of the afternoon doing more singing. I managed a couple of decent pictures:

Some of the ladies (plus a stray man) rehearsing "Just Arrived":


The music:


Monday evening saw a few optional activities - one demonstration of lighting techniques, a talk about auditioning and a dance session:


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To be continued...

 

[alan]

Tuesday saw us well into the swing of things. The weather wasn't any better, however. I admit to ruining a pair of jazz shoes over the week - they just aren't designed for use outdoors in this kind of weather:


We were now moving around the floor, of course, rather than just sitting in chairs singing:

(the fellow at the front is the director of the extract; this was again the number "Just Arrived"). it's obviously easier to take photos of numbers that you're not in!)



Isn't an all-black room lit by fluorescent strips such a lovely place to take pictures?

Anyway, Tuesday evening saw a pub quiz, partly about musicals and largely about other stuff. Allegedly, some alcohol was consumed, but I'll leave those photographs to facebook!

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Wednesday. Wobbly Wednesday. When you hit the Wednesday Wall. It's a tough time for everyone, and it was the first day that I saw tears. I won't for a moment claim that I didn't have similar feelings on my first time, but the good thing about this school is the way that people who have been there before can help pull the new folk through.

On Wednesday you're realising that you're pretty tired after having been working since Sunday morning, your initial adrenaline rush has gone away and there's still a lot of stuff to set. It's a tough day.

But that's no excuse for my leading lady to be snoozing on a prop during rehearsal!

She claimed that it was part of the show, of course, but I have my doubts...

Here she is being directed to hold a particular pose. It looks better on her than the director, to tell the truth.


Oh, do you see the guy at the piano? He was my opposite number - when he was Steven/Tony I was Rico, and vice-versa. We tossed a coin and he was playing Steven/Tony in the evening, I played him in the afternoon.

Here are some of the dancers being set by the assistant director:


Wednesday evening was costume call. No photographs of that, for obvious reasons.

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To be continued

 

[alan]

Each day starts with a dancey warm-up, and Thursday was no exception


Then it was on to rehearsal. We had the morning in the theatre, which gave us a much better idea of how much space we had to work with:


I rather liked this one taken in what we jokingly referred to as the wings:


but I finally got proof that she wasn't lying about the bed:


Thursday evening saw another dance session for those who wanted it; I was far too busy learning my lines. I knew most of the Steven/Tony lines, but the Rico ones were new to me. And in truth, I was ready for my first early bed of the week!

To Be continued

 

[alan]

Friday is dress rehearsal day. All six extracts (two per class, three classes) are performed in front of the rest of the school, though still on the understanding that this is a rehearsal. I'll just show a couple of pictures from each class; I won't break them down into afternoon or evening performance:

Class A - The Man Of La Mancha






Class B - Kiss Me Kate






Class C - Copacabana

Why I look so worried with two beautiful women I don't know, but never mind...

 

[alan]

Saturday was essentially a repeat of Friday, but this time there was an audience. Local people, staff at the college, friends and family were all able to come along and see our week's work.

That night, there was of course an after-show party which went on into the wee hours. Then Sunday saw the sad departures and the long drive home.

Truly, this is a fantastic week for anyone interested in taking part in musical theatre. The school's website is at http://www.ross-online.org.uk, and loads more photographs can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/atp/collections/72157606791418639/

I hope this hasn't been too self-indulgent and you've enjoyed some of the pictures. I'll leave you with a couple of the posed photographs that were taken - unfortunately with us looking straight into the sun!

Me with my "wife"


The cast and production team


regards,
/alan