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"I took part in the Aylesbury Regional Event"

March 11, 2018
"I took part in the Aylesbury Regional Event"
Our blogger, Annabelle, third from left, performing songs from Matilda at the Waterside Theatre

Life's a stage!

Behind the scenes
The day started off with a cold journey to the Waterside Theatre, where we sat for a half-hour listening to a sound check – a man repetitively saying ‘toast’, mixed with some painful beeps. Then we found out we were opening the show, as the Waterside is our home theatre, so we were first to do the tech rehearsal. When I got on stage I realised I’d forgotten to change into my jazz shoes. I told the choreographer, who said to go quickly and put them on. I walked from the stage to the dimly lit auditorium, grabbed my bag, whipped on my jazz shoes and ran back.
Annabelle, centre

Rehearsals
After that mini drama, my group headed up the stairs to practise ‘Electricity’ from Billy Elliot, which all of the schools sang together to kick off the show. Then we went back to the auditorium to eat lunch. Next, I had my hair done and I wouldn’t describe it as comfortable! The choreographer put it in two pigtails and then backcombed it into this massive frizzy bun, which was pretty noticeable! After that, we did a drama workshop based on Shakespeare with a bunch of other Stagecoach students. The funniest part was probably when my mate Daniel and I did a scene where he fake punched me in the head and I dramatically fell to the floor in front of everyone, who then burst out laughing.

It’s showtime!
Finally, there we were, standing behind a closed curtain, ready for the show. Then, the curtain rose and we sang with the other schools. After that, we ran backstage and were all feeling euphoric. We had about a minute to change our costumes and run back on stage. The lights went up and the music started.
For the performance, we did singing and dancing, which included some stunts. At one point we made a human staircase, which one of us walked over; did an aerial cartwheel and a series of lifts. It made quite a performance, if I do say so myself!

Stagecoach Aylesbury students performing stunts during the performance

And… Wow!
It was the best! I was buzzing when we returned to the dressing room, but sad to know the show was over. It then took three people an hour to get the hairbands out and brush my hair back to normal, which hurt – a lot! That wrapped up a great day at the Waterside theatre, an experience I will never forget and a brilliant opportunity!

Check out Stagecoach Aylesbury's performance of Matilda below.


By Annabelle, Stagecoach Aylesbury


If your child has performed in a Stagecoach national or regional event and would like to be our next guest blogger, send their blog to [email protected] to be featured on our website.