Second Dress

The second dress rehearsal was with an audience – and a heated tent! The heating made such a difference – having an exposed belly wasn't so bad any more.

Having a live audience was great because we got to hear them laugh and boo and so on. They were mostly kids so a lot of the political and adult humour didn't get a reaction, but the rest was fun.

There was a difference in how the cast performed too – some people (especially the main characters) have been performing in rehearsals just as though an audience was in front of them, but some people in the chorus weren't really. But with bodies in the seats, everyone suddenly became animated and started reacting to all the lines, interacting with other chorus members and generally hamming it up as you are supposed to do in Panto. That made it even more fun to perform.

The costume changes were OK, we have enough time for the most part, I only had one sticky moment. I was given braces to wear over a shirt, but they had to be safety-pinned to my trousers as they didn't have snaps. One of my dressing-room-mates was pinning them on when, to our horror, we heard the orchestra striking up the song that we were about to perform! We rushed out of the dressing-rooms and onto the blacked-out stage, and that's when I realised that the braces were still safety-pinned to the back of my trousers.

I didn't have any way to attach them to the front of my trousers, so they would have to go, but I had to work by feel and I couldn't get the safety-pin open. Tugging hard, the braces finally came off, just as the lights came up. *whew*

After the show, we were relieved that we had a complete performance under our belts, costume changes and all. Tomorrow we start for real!