Jeev's 2022 blog

 Only a short blog from me this time, and I promise that because right now at the time of writing this, it’s the 29^thDecember and I have yet to finish writing my Christmas Cards, haven’t wrapped or given my brother his present (just like Royal Mail, my care for everything decided to strike over the Christmas period), and have barely started my UCAS application. 

 

I took part in quite a few projects this term: The Big Conversation, Miners Memorial, Gold and Black Christmas plays (along with some Lamda too, and the beginning of Connections). I won’t go into any details about the first at the risk of starting an unpleasant conversation in the comment section of what’s supposed to be a safe space. Because of my inability to say no and my ability to procrastinate, I only had myself to blame when I began to get stressed out. These are also the reasons why I never ended up writing my Miners/Big Convo blog, but it was a great experience to take part in both. 

 

Back in Summer after our Gold show, we began devising our Christmas show, which was a take on Hugh Grant’s speech in Love Actually – a play based in an airport where each character on the plane was somehow related to a character in the waiting gate. Originally, I wasn’t planning on staying for this show, until we began iterating characters, and Sarah pitched the idea of a joyous flight attendant who was a huge Taylor Swift fan (an idea that was developed after a tipsy me “sung” Love Story at the night before our Much Ado About Nothing dress rehearsal). The other reason I wanted to stay was because I hadn’t performed on stage with Lewis for at least 3 years I think, so it was nice to be able to do that again. Despite really wanting to be involved in this play, my commitment was tested as the shows came about, in terms of both attendance and learning lines (I was often there, but not there at the same time – in fact, there are two photos from two different productions this year where I’ve zoned out in the direction of the camera). Attendance never really was my strong point though so that can be forgiven – I remember when Sapphire was at CAPA, I would go weeks on end without turning up, and then randomly rock up in my super skinny jeans (not as skinny as Olli’s grey shirt in Black’s Little Red Riding Hood however), with my Minion backpack and Mickey Mouse Vans on (I had a very distinctive look).  The hardest thing about this play for me was getting into a character which was so different to who I am (for the most part anyway), and also trying to build relationships on-stage with other characters, despite my absences, but after being taught how to stand “in character” and model walk/strut (something I most certainly haven’t perfected), I felt a tad more confident. Costume was something I could have fun with – me, Alise and Hattie decided to go for green as our colour scheme and so as cabin crew, me and Alise wore green waistcoats on the plane, and plaid jackets in the airport (we truly were the flight of fashion). You’d never think finding Christmas hats in December would be so hard, but me and Alise spent a good 3 hours on this, and almost resorted to some questionable shops. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to have the slow-motion pilot and flight attendant trio walk like they do in the movies, so I feel like if there was a reason why this play never took off, that would be it. Hattie managed to find a metal trolley, and on the day of the shows I had a Sainsburys bag full of things like Ritz, 2-month old popcorn and some ‘plane’ crisps. Seems to be that in every play this year, I’ve had to awkwardly hug someone, and this was no exception – I usually commentated the moment with a sarcastic comment. Despite the fact I can never listen to ‘Is This Christmas?’ by The Wombats in the same way again, possibly the best thing about Maybe This Christmas is how each separate storyline came to a conclusion, and the importance of these to this cast. 

 

At the beginning of August, Sarah sent Black Company three scripts to choose from – Red Riding Hood, Princess of Glass and The Snow Princess. The latter didn’t even get a look in, and it was a very close call between the others. For any that complained about the play choice, we were offered the chance to suggest others, yet no one took it. With 1940s event in Ossett coming up first, we focussed more on Radio than we did Red; I can remember watching Radio a few years back, so being able to take part in this was a truly great opportunity. Physical theatre was at the heart of this show, working together in several pairs, coming up with different sequences to match the dynamic of the piece at different moments. Other than being hit “accidentally” twice by Ellie Paige Peters (yep, full named for this premeditated attack) in the performance, the 1940s day in Ossett went well (or I assume it did – might’ve been a bit concussed) – It’s performances like this and Miners, which are so important in the real world, that make Yew Tree special. Afterwards, me and Arwen had a look at some of the stalls outside, where I invested £3 on popcorn, the very same popcorn that was used as a prop in Gold’s Christmas show over a month later. Christmas shows sorta got put on the back burner for me after 1940s day, because for a week later I had to learn pretty much all of my Lamda stuff. Not entirely sure why I was so stressed though, because the exam went well I think – maybe I should start learning more things a week before the deadline. This is when Red got fully underway, and we started fine tuning the play. Luckily costume was pretty simple and we just had to add some red onto our Radio costume, so I decided to channel one of my assistant manager’s vibes and wear a bandana (not saying anything, but I may’ve taken it out of a set of three bandanas I bought someone else for Christmas).

 

Show Day: 

After eating luke-warm porridge, watching a 30-year-old man fall off a chair, seeing a drunk guy debase himself (all of which happened at McDonald’s at 7am – the beauty of Wakefield  right?) and a chocolate-related incident, I showed up to Ossett Town Hall half hour late (in my defence, I only got about an hours sleep after work). A couple days before, I realised that I might have to work on the Sunday with the World Cup on, so I messaged my boss letting her know I can’t that day despite it being in my contract, and she replied with “No drama! We’ll bring temp staff in if we need” – yet again, another bad pun in this blog. I will admit, I did want to watch the finals (makes me wonder how much of an audience we would’ve had if England reached them), but luckily I managed to catch the penalties (unlike Hugo Lloris) afterwards. Props to Michael Godsall for capturing some great photos during our tech runs. During lunch break, we went to get food, and I ended up buying a large can of Red Bull (literally diabetes in a can) and a whole pack of party rings. One quick sleep later, it was time for our first performance. After the shows, and a quick review of the shows by my mum who thought a generous serving of Baileys would be good for her (very much an Arrested Development Lucille Bluth “Did you enjoy your meal mum? You drank it fast enough!” moment), me and Arwen made a (Taylor) swift getaway (Car) to “pub” (a little tradition that came about during this term at Black Company) where we were joined by Connor. Apparently, I may’ve been a bit “tiddled” as evidenced by my excessive use of a Scottish accent… and the fact I thought we were being followed… and the fact that I fell asleep in my taxi home. 

 

That’s all for 2022. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this year at Yew Tree, possibly one of my favourites, although I said that last year,  just like I said last year will be my last Christmas shows. From Hunt, to  Merlin and Morgana, to Much Ado About Nothing, to Brexit the Musical, to Radio, the Miners Memorial, The Big Conversation, and the Christmas Shows, this year has been full of surprises. As usual, a couple messages: 

 

Sarah – Another year’s gone by, and you still haven’t been able to be rid of me. In all seriousness though, thank you for making drama a place which I can pretty much call home each week, and for pushing and encouraging me throughout the insane amount of projects you’ve managed to pull off this year. 

 

Arwen – a friendship that’s build on Minecraft TikToks, sarcasm, the mutual love for my mum, “pub”, Monkes  and hoodie theft, I look forward to another year of keeping you humble with my “stinky attitude”. 

 

Ellie – Not really any words to describe this friendship. If I’m honest, we probably shouldn’t be allowed to work together in drama because of our inability to hide our facial expressions, make sarcastic comments, or not laugh. From wearing ridiculous wigs, to drinking mocktails, to accidental aggravated assault, this friendship truly does have it all! 

 

Alise – Probably the main reason I’ve enjoyed this year at Gold Company, from working as a pair in Merlin and Morgana, and in Maybe This Christmas, and the fact we can have nerdy conversations about 3D Printers. 

 

Eliana - it’s only recently in a Connections rehearsal that your Dara told me to “go home and die”. Now if you’d said this to me back at the start of the year, I probably would’ve taken it to heart, but you didn’t, so I’m gonna keep making fun of the insane amount of books you read (especially with my unpopular opinion on Six of Crows) and the fact Argentina won the World Cup all throughout 2023 :)

 

So much for a short one, right? 

 

See you in the next blog, 

Jeev : )