The Uncommon Room

An account as told by Stef regarding this unusual Production

ACTING SHEEPISHLY – 25th – 27th October 2007

William Blake in his famous poem poses the question “Little Lamb who Made Thee?” and I’m sure we can all hazard a guess at that. I just wish that when He was drawing up the blueprint for this bleating, fleecy and gambolling creation he had designed it without such an active and malodorous rear orifice!

Appearing at The Big Sheep was indeed a challenge. Our Dressing Room was the storeroom and we had to make up between boxes filled with all sorts of knickknacks for their shop including Wellington boot money boxes and Easter bunnies. It was also quite a hike from there to the Shearing Arena in which we appeared, (we star in all the best venues!) so when we were setting up and looking for props etc., Tony and I spent our time chasing each other around in circles before we eventually worked out the geography of the place!

The cast arrived each night at about 5.15 p.m. to get made up. We appeared at 6.45 p.m. and were finished by just after 7.00 p.m. An awful lot of effort, some might say, for a quarter of an hour show! But the three audiences were ‘to die for’ if it had been a pantomime! About 300 young kids with their parents each night – and mostly in Hallow’een costume - all raring to go.

Ali, who was first on, said it was a bit like walking out into a football stadium it was so noisy! The first night it was really difficult for the cast because the management forgot to turn off the heating fans until half way through the performance and by then Ali and Joyce had almost lost their voices since they had to yell to stand any chance at all of being heard.

On Friday we decided to mic up, but there were only two lapel mics available, so Ali and Joyce used them. However the guy from Lantern FM who was acting as MC and used a hand held mic forgot to turn it off when he had finished so, effectively, that knocked out one of ours. Joyce came over loud and clear – and so did Ali when she came within Joyce’s orbit. Sara was shrieking anyway, so there was no way you could ignore her!

However halfway through the performance the sound guy realised what was amiss and turned off the hand mic. After a lot of (I have to say quite atmospheric) squeaks, whines and whistles from the feedback, Ali bounced back larger than life! The other thing was that Rick (the owner) turned out too many switches, so the whole performance took place in a green ‘orgulous’ light, which the audience thought was meant. The fact that you could hardly make out which witch was which did not seem to worry them at all!

Saturday’s performance went like a dream, and we have a super video of it. Everyone could see and hear what was going on - including the cast. Nonetheless Joyce said afterwards that it was just as exhausting doing 15 minutes over there as it was doing a three act play in the Plough!

Now however we come to the real nitty-gritty. Sometimes backstage at the Plough leaves a little to be desired, but it pales into insignificance beside the back stage arrangements of a Shearing Arena! In order to get to the Arena and not be seen by the inquisitive eyes of hundreds of kids, my three witches had to pick their way, by torchlight, through the yard which was lavishly awash with all sorts of unmentionable liquid matter and past the sheep pens to get into the rear of the building. On top of this Ali, Joyce and Sara had to make their entrance through the same door as the sheep used during the day, so Wes, a wonderfully sturdy and bronzed Australian sheep shearer (every cloud has a silver lining) hosed the whole area down for us before we performed each evening to get rid of the sheep sh**, hence the overpowering smell of sheep and Jeyes fluid which hung in the air that no amount of air freshener could disguise! In fact such was the pungent odour in our car after bringing the furniture and props back, I had to squirt Febreze liberally over the upholstery before we could consider carrying any passengers unconnected with the production!

Was it worth it? Yes, every bit. Not only were the audiences enthusiastic and wanting to join in with the “it’s behind you” routine when hunting out the wooden spoon to stir the witches brew, but the staff at The Big Sheep, who must have been knackered after a day’s work, were kindness itself and nothing was too much trouble for them.
However, I have to say, that the ghoulish strains of Saint-Saens “Dance Macabre” and Carl Orff’s ‘O Fortuna’ which was playing repetitively in the Arena by way of atmospheric music will haunt us all for the rest of our days.

Stephanie Easton