Diverse Ramblings

The secret lives of Henry and Alice

A new theatre production company recently came into being here on the rock - TnT Theatre Productions.

It's a new venture by Alan Montanaro and Denise Mulholland, and last Sunday we went to watch the first show under its auspices - The Secret Lives of Henry and Alice, a two-hander comedy by David Tristam, directed by Polly March.

Having seen both Alan and Denise perform before, once with each other in another two-hander, we had high expectations and weren't disappointed.

The play is about a couple who have been married for years and years, and whose relationship mostly consists of Henry making a mess in the house, and Alice cleaning it up. They both have rich fantasy lives, which makes things very interesting, especially when the fantasy starts to impinge on reality.

There isn't a whole lot of plot, except towards the end, but in each each scene you learn a bit more about each character, and then about their history, and about their feelings towards each other, and did I mention that the whole thing is also hilariously funny?

Actually I think that plotless plays are the hardest to perform because everything hinges on the character development instead, and there's not a lot of action going on to distract the audience from the actual acting. No pressure, hey!

All of Henry's fantasies involve only women, and all of Alice's only men, so each actor gets to play all the characters in the other person's fantasies, making for upwards of two dozen characters between them. Plus, multiple accents. Sheesh.

Alan wears variations on a suit in every scene except the memorable seaside scene, and all his characters would plausibly be dressed in that manner, but Denise likewise wears her housewife's clothes throughout, even when playing a glamourous socialite and a no less glamourous foreign spy. It says a lot about her performance skills that I only realised afterwards that she was wearing her housewife's cardigan - you get so caught up in the acting that you couldn't care less what the clothes look like.

I thought that Alan did a great job too - maybe it's because I'm a woman, but I think it's harder for men to play multiple characters and make them recognisably different to each other, perhaps because male characters (as in real life) are in general less demonstrative than the females, which means the actor has to work harder.

The play is chock full of one-liners, many of them just tossed out there for you to get or not get, as you please, so there is no shortage of amusement. There is also a lot of commentary about marriage and relationships as Alice and Henry discuss theirs - a few times, Mike and I nudged each other and exchanged knowing grins, and I imagine that people with more than our nineteen months of marital experience will find even more to appreciate.

I highly recommend this play both in terms of being entertaining, and in terms of being impressive to watch as Alan and Denise go through so many characters, accents, and lightning-fast costume changes. Be warned that tickets are selling fast, and I have just received word that the run will not be extended, so this week-end is your last chance to watch.

So make your reservation quickly by e-mailing the St. James box office, or phone the St. James reception on 2122-3200 and tell the nice people there that you'd like to watch The Secret Lives of Henry and Alice.

With distinction!

Got my musical theatre results... I did loads better that I had even dared to hope for! Distinctions in both the group (Grade 7) and the individual (Grade 8) exams! I am thrilled to bits and extremely chuffed.

Lord knows I have experienced plenty of failures when it comes to sitting exams, but when you work really hard for something, and you get a fantastic result, it's a feeling like no other.

So, I am well pleased that all the study and practice and nerves and aggravation paid off, and I just have to be careful not to think about this in public, because if I do then my big stupid grin resurfaces, and I get funny looks from passers-by.

I got a copy of the detailed notes that the examiner made on each part of the exam (five songs, a dance, an improvisation, and a short discussion). Regarding performance, the only negative thing she said (twice!) was that I need to support my voice more, especially when reaching for the high notes. As Michael commented on this, "Well, we knew that already!". Lol.

She complimented my timing (also twice, haha) which is down to my sense of rhythm.

Honestly, I only have two natural talents, everything else I had to sweat for. Ever since I was a toddler, I have had (1) great rhythm and (2) a knack for writing. Unfortunately, writing is not a performance art, so I am capitalising on my rhythm as much as possible, and in this case it paid off!

For my dance, she said that my fusion of tap and hip-hop worked, which is a relief *grin* since I am totally making this up as I go along. The improv went very well too, and I aced the discussion (all the hours I spent with Wikipedia, memorising statistics about Tony nominations, opening dates and lengths of performance runs paid off too).

So, hooray and hoorah, and I think that my neighbours are also thrilled that they don't have to listen to me practice the same six numbers over and over every evening, so everyone is happy.

Summer, she is here.

In Malta we have a very short Spring, and a very short Autumn. Spring lasts a few weeks, and Autumn even less. Some years it feels like we skip the intermediate seasons altogether, and just jump straight from Winter to Summer to Winter.

Seems like our Maltese spring ended last weekend and became summer. Temperatures are up in the low thirties (Celcius!) and the signs of summer have been popping up all week.

One of the sure-fire signs happened to me just today - wanting to shower just to cool down (as opposed to the usual aim of 'get clean'). Tough on the water consumption, but not so bad for the electricity since hot water is now undesirable.

Another sign of summer - the fireworks going off all evening are so loud that I have trouble hearing the TV. *sigh*. At least the cats don't seem too bothered by the noise, they seem to have taken it in their stride and they only look round if it was a really loud bang.

The humidity isn't too bad yet, which is something to be thankful for, but I wonder what August holds if things are this bad and it's only May! Time to break out the sunscreen for everyday use and get the lightweight clothes out of storage, along with the mosquito repellent machines and the fan.

June, here we come!

And... breathe.

Well, that was a busy few months!

It feels like my 'year' is over. I had three big projects, and now they are all over and I've no plans for summer. Well, no projects, anyway.

Panto took up all of October to December, and I needed a month afterwards to recuperate. The next three months were spent on the coursework and study for my Home Economics A-Level, which took me up to the end of April, and since then I concentrated on my exam for Grade 8 in Musical Theatre which was this week.

The school I go to uses the Trinity Guildhall syllabus, and brings an examiner out every two years. Last time, I sat for my first exam and did a Grade 5, so this time it should have been a Grade 7 but I decided to just go for the 8. Yeah.

Took six hours on the computer to get hold of backing tracks (because most of what I wanted wasn't available) but I eventually got sorted. May I highly recommend karaoke-version.com for backing tracks - they're good quality, there's a wide range, you can preview a clip, and they're available in five keys (original, and up to two semitones above and below). Also, you can pay using Paypal if you prefer, and you get to download the tracks immediately. Awesome! I got my sheet music off musicnotes.com as usual, not all transposable but some are, which is also cool.

My final programme looked like this:

Magic to Do (from Pippin)
Mr. Bojangles (from Dancin')
One (from A Chorus Line)
Puttin' On the Ritz (from Blue Skies)
You Won't Succeed on Broadway (from Spamalot)

And finally, a dance to Happy Feet (High Heels Remix)

Don't ask me how, but I wound up with one song from 1929, three from the 1970's, and one from 2005. If that isn't diversity, I don't know what is. I threw in some props and a pair of tap shoes, learned how to juggle scarves from the Internet, and generally had a great time.

I wanted to do the dance to one of my favourite songs ever, which is Happy Feet (another 1930's song) but while looking for a recording to dance to, I found the High Heels Mix which was too awesome not to use. I choreographed a tap dance to it, and threw in a stomp/popping routine in the middle. My hip-hop moves are awful, but I figured I'd give it a try.

Preparing for the exam wasn't all fun, of chorus course and I spent three weeks stressing out over it, but after the exam I walked around for three days with a big stupid grin plastered all over my face because I managed to pull it off. Example of said grin --> :-D

The exam session went well though, even though my mouth was so dry that it felt like a corner of the Sahara desert had taken up residence for the evening. I made a few mistakes, and my tapdance board slid on the tiled floor during a couple of energetic moves - but I kept my composure (and my balance), I recovered, and I didn't drop any of the juggling scarves *whew*.

Now I'm just waiting to hear what grade I got. I don't know what's more nerve-wracking, sitting an exam or waiting to hear how you did. I'm jumping every time an SMS or a call comes in to my mobile. Come July, it will be more of the same as thousands of teenagers (and a few adults) wait for the O-Level and A-Level results to come out.

Anyway, have completed my projects, now it's time to relax. I can read (non-academic) books again! Watch (non-musical) DVDs! Solder! Clean the bathroom! (*groan*).

I'm laying plans for what to do next, but right now, just enjoying having free time again. I'll choose another project when I get bored again, but it's likely to be some time before that happens.