An update from our illustrious leader!

With less than four weeks to go, Monday 11th July was a busy day in the life of the Stage Experience 2011.

Since the auditions I have been pondering ideas for the show, talking with assistant director Ashley Harvey about the themes and structure of the piece and what we can do to put our stamp on what is an absolute classic. I'm really enjoying working with Ashley who is one of the cleverest and most creative directors in Oxfordshire - his addition to the team is exciting for all involved!

Yesterday I had a meeting with the ever-busy and productive Kerry Arnold and Gill Baines. We discussed groups, who can be best used for which sections and how we can make sure that the cast get the most they can out of the production, how best to work on Monday 15th August when we can't get into the auditorium because our set is being built, how to costume a period show and all manner of other things...

Then in the evening I had a great chat with our MD John Beswick about the music and he is working incredibly hard to get us the show we want, with the material we need to keep all 129 of you as busy as possible! We have some very exciting opportunities for dance, as well as some great acting opportunities and some additional singing that you might not expect, so there is something for everyone over the 10 days of rehearsals.

The aim with NTSE 2011 is to look back at Fame 2010, enhance all the positives and try to improve on areas we feel we can: its our mission to give the cast and tech team the best two weeks of their summer holidays!

I'm excited! Are you?

Photos!

Our lovely project photographer Mark came down to the auditions to take pictures of you all, accompanied and assisted by the equally lovely Vanessa! A couple of them are posted below, but they'll all be available to buy in August...

The theatre seems very, very quiet this morning...

Stage Experience is over for another year - none of us can quite believe it! We'd like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who came to see the show: your support meant a lot and it was great to see packed houses at every performance. And a special thank you and congratulations to all the youngsters who took part - you produced a blinder of a show that is still being talked about all over the county this morning (my phone hasn't stopped ringing with members of the press passing on their compliments!).

So I hope you all enjoyed it too, and here's one last picture of our brilliant producer Kerry and our wonderful director Ed - the unsung heroes of the whole piece!

Day 10 - the media buzz is building!

A very exciting morning already! Trev and Hamish from Jack FM came down and watched the cast run through Hard Work and Fame, which looked pretty fantastic from where we were sat, especially considering the limited amount of time they have had to rehearse. The boys from Jack then interviewed a few of the senior cast members as well as our mildly harrassed director. Everyone is quite tired but still full of enthusiasm and really looking forward to Thursday night.

Tune in to Jack FM's breakfast show on Thursday morning to hear exactly what they all had to say!

Day one: introductions!

It's lunchtime on the first day of Stage Experience 2010! And so far, everything seems to be running very smoothly indeed (touch wood...). We started the day with some words of welcome from Kerry and Ed, and Jamie (the General Manager of the New Theatre) also popped in to have a quick word about health and safety. Much screaming later (you had to be there...) and everyone was given a tour of the building in their colour groups.

Mark, our photographer, and his assistant Lawrence have been taking group and individual shots all morning for the programme. We've just got the big group shot on the main stage and 6 more group photos to do this afternoon before we're finished, so they'll be done whilst Ed and his creative team run some workshops to help everyone get to know each other and shake off those first-day nerves.

The really hard work starts tomorrow...

Read through report!

By all accounts, the read through yesterday was a rip-roaring success! Lots of ideas being fired about and it was very exciting to see the beginnings of the show take place. Indeed, from this photo it looks like Ed was moving faster than the speed of light!

9 days to go... Everyone in the theatre has had their photo taken so that we can be easily identified by all participants, so we're all feeling a little self-conscious today!

More munchies!

Kerry has just returned from a shopping trip - the tuck shop is now fully stocked!

Cast read-through this afternoon, as Ed mentioned - wishing you all the best guys.

A blog from our director on the morning of the principals' read-through!

Woke up at 6.30 with 'Hard Work' running around my head after working on the overall feel for the number for about two hours last night. Pretty sure it will work, just working out how to get all the cast on stage and moving between states without bumping into each other - I have made my peace with the fact that there will be some bumping on the first few days but hey ho, thats why we rehearse isn't it!

Had a good chat with Katie (Choreographer) and I am looking forward to the read through later, although feeling anxious at the same time so I am going to go for a run and try and shake that off before the read through.

The production schedule is coming along, although it is a logistical nightmare and I have to control the urge to delete all its contents once one thing goes wrong. It shouldn't be a surprise that organising 150+ cast, in several rooms, between several production team members etc is difficult, so maybe I should give myself a break and come back to it in a bit, yes, thats what I'll do.

There are 10 days to go but its a full on Fame week! Meeting with Amy Jackson (Assistant Director) tomorrow and Sam Barton (Production Assistant) on Friday, I have directed Sam for the past two years at OYMT and I am looking forward to working with him on this one from a different perspective. It is one of my favourite things about Stage Experience, the fact that all sorts of people do all sorts of different things, but the show wouldn't happen without all of them. Yes there is a large amount of pressure on us as a production team and the theatre staff, especially Kerry, but we have such an army of people behind us to help keep it smooth and enjoyable, they are worth their weight in gold!

So, will see a small fraction of the cast later and looking forward to it!

So many colours...

Kerry and Ed have spent two hours this afternoon dividing up the 150-something Stage Experience participants into colour-coded groups. This makes it much easier for us to organise the 10 days of rehearsal and to move everyone around the building, from stage to dressing rooms to rehearsal spaces, without risking losing anyone along the way!

The colours used this year are cerise, aqua, yellow, pink, blue, red, lavender, amber, green, orange, violet, grey, lime, silver and purple - almost enough to rival Joseph and his dreamcoat...

Introductions - meet the Director!

Name: Edward Blagrove

Role: Director

About: Edward was born in Oxford and is the youngest of three brothers. After training as an actor at the London School of Musical Theatre, Edward had a few jobbing actor roles before he began teaching. This led him to directing, firstly for his own production company (BMH Productions), then for Tomahawk Theatre, and most recently Oxfordshire Youth Music Theatre and Oxford Operatic Society.

Edward performed with the Company of Oliver! in the New Theatre Stage Experience 2006 and is delighted to be back, now at the helm!

As a life long Arsenal FC and England Rugby fan Edward likes nothing more than kicking back with a few mates and catching the game, either at his beloved Emirates Stadium, Twickenham or just on the telly.

Best Musical you've ever seen? A tough one, but I'll go with Grand Hotel at the Donmar Warehouse in 2005.

Favourite song from a musical? It depends on the mood, but its hard to beat the 'Tonight Ensemble' from West Side Story.