Truly Scrumptious

So next week I will be sharing the stage with my Abbey family and I have to say we have an exceptional Principal cast for this years show (not that they aren’t usually so).

I maybe biased but their talent has truly shone through during rehearsals. Now as everyone who has ever done anything they have had to rehearse for would tell you ordinarily it is easy to tire of hearing the same dialogue and redoing the same scene repeatedly but for me this years show is the exception.

Maybe it is the connection the show has to my own childhood? Reconnecting me to the little girl who would pretend to be Truly Scrumptious standing on the music box trying to do her best doll impression, whilst trying not to be licked to death by her dog (no, that dog bit is not in the show!) And everyone loves Chitty 🙂 Chitty is right up there with Kit from Knight Rider for me. My own personal lullaby has always been Hush A Bye Mountain.

Is it this reconnection to my younger self that keeps me in awe of the performances in front of me, still laughing at dialogue I have heard several times before and the way the characters are coming to life in front of my very eyes or is it purely because the casting is so spot on I am transported to this other world so completely because of the talented people I happen to call friends?

There is nothing amateur about this wonderful company and the tireless effort that goes on behind the scenes to bring the show to life is without doubt on a par with anything a professional company do.

Yesterday we received our costumes and it’s always the time when you feel yourself truly becoming the character you are on stage, putting on those costumes is like shifting into a new persona, helping you connect to the character not just with your words but with yourself.

Putting on those costumes always seems to give me a confidence boost, it is like I can shrug off the shy part of me and just be me (Who knew stripping to my underwear and changing my clothes several times in front of a full company of Amateur performers would have that effect?!).

From a writers perspective, it is interesting to think about the kind of clothing my characters would wear in my novels, what is the one thing they couldn’t leave home without? It certainly would appear that “Clothes do maketh the man” 

I know how I feel when I put something particularly girly on or how I reach for the comfy option when I have had a particularly lousy day and how every time the Dr regenerates in Dr Who (you know I’m a sci fi fan right?) one of the first questions is what will they be wearing?

Indiana Jones had his iconic fedora, Tom Baker had his scarf in Dr Who, Luke Skywalker has his light saber (still want one of these..okay all of them).

What will become the iconic item for my characters?

By Sunday next week all this wonderful cast’s work will have come to fruition, the clothes will have been worn, the songs will have been sung, but there will still be a special place in my heart for these performers, a certain car and a dog named Edison.

Catch Abbey Players exceptional show of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Grand Theatre Swansea from Wednesday 24th October.