And in the end....

Well this will be the last ever post from the Much Ado team.  We had a fantastic time on Friday and Saturday taking the show out to St Columba's School in Kilmacolm and then to the Arts Guild in Greenock with the Greenock Youth Theatre.  It was great fun to be involved with the young people and the reponse we got from them was fantastic.  You can see lots of photos from our trip here and a short video here that gives a taste of what we were up to.

The other half of the A2 class are performing Midsummer's Nights Dream this week, and having seen the dress rehearsal it comes highly recommended.  Also the Masters in Classical and Contemporary Text are performing at Scottish Youth Theatre, they are pulling of the impressive feat of The War of Roses play cycle, part 3 (Richard III) starts tonight!

Thanks to all those who have been reading this blog regularly and to those we either came along to see our show or participated in our workshop.

Doing it for the kids...

Today was a very strange, exciting and ultimately fulfilling day.  It started standing in the pouring rain with 10 costumes, 10 pairs of shows, loads of hats and boxes of props - but ended with 62 very happy young people and great feedback from enthusiastic teachers.

We took our production on the road to St Columba's school in Kilmalcolm.  This was a pretty big undertaking, we had about 4 hours of workshops followed by a specially cut version of the play (down from 3 hours to 1)!  The young people were introduced to the main characters in the play and were also given roles to act out when we came to do the performance.

Here you can see Mark explaining to the group what the Globe theatre would have been like back in the day...

We acted out some scenes and encouraged the different classes to react to what was going on:

All in all it was a very successful day,  and hopefully something that the RSAMD shall continue to do.  We are heading to Greenock tomorrow to play the show to a youth theatre and then that's just about it all wrapped up and done!

The fat lady has almost sung....

Our show is almost over. I don't think any of us can believe it! We have one more performance tomorrow night and then we bid this version of Much Ado adieu!

But the story doesn't end there. We then have the challenging task of bringing the play to a school and a youth theatre. More about that next week, right now we're focusing on the final night - and the party afterwards of course!

Dress rehearsal then Showtime!!!

We had a great dress rehearsal last night, with the show going really well - especially since we haven't run it for almost a week!  We had full hair and makeup which really adds to the 1950s sparkle!

It has really been a pleasure working on the show, and everyone has had such a fun time, now we can but hope that the audiences will appreciate it!  You can see all the pics from the Dress on our Facebook album.

There are still limited seats available for some nights but hurry as they are almost all gone!

Almost there....

Today was a really exciting day with all the tech done - the only thing left to do is the dress rehearsal and then we're on! We have a huuuuge bunch of photos for you to look at on the right hand side (or on Facebook here) these show off the wonderful costumes and masks (though sometimes we were just wearing our plain clothes as you can see!).

This is my fav pic of the day, Bobby looking very impressive...

Masks...

Today was the first day the actors have been on set in full costume.  We were mainly working on lights and sound but it was a great opportunity to try out our really exciting, purpose-built masks!  Every character is a different animal, most of them real but Beatrice (trust her) decided to come dressed as a Unicorn!

 The play is really starting to come to life with the exciting set, lighting design and costumes just adding to the excitement!

Another day of tech tomorrow and then hopefully we can start to run things over the weekend... Some tickets are still available from the RSAMD box office!

Benedick speaks...

Martin McBride is playing the part of the eternal bachelor Benedict, here he reflects on what's been and what' yet to come:

"Well, hello. So, the tech begins tomorrow. (That seems a bit scarier when you write it down). On and off we've been working on this production since Febuary and we've finally come to the home stretch. This is where all the pieces (hopefully) fall together, where the proverbial solids hit the proverbial air conditioning. It's been a fantastic rehearsal process; challenging, enlightening, tiring but most of all fun. Fun in spades, like.

 Been working with the genius that is Ros Steen, one of our voice coaches on the production, today. Still mining the text for all it's worth, to the last minute.

 Had a quick glance at the set today, like a sneak peak photo, which I've got to say is looking pretty cool.

What else have we got for you?

What haven't we got!

Laughter, heartbreak, the mafia, the church, the army, intrigue, sex, death, darkness and light and some pretty slick dancing as a little cherry on top of the delicious muffin that is our production. Baked by our tireless, talented and downright lovely director and assistant director, Ali DeSouza and Andrew Mcgregor.

So, yeah, come see it. It's gonna be right good.

To the Tech!

Oh, and it starts at 7pm.

Not 7.30."

Teching....

Today started bright and early with Ros Steen, head of the department for voice at the academy. These were detailed sessions that showed just how much you can still pull out of the text this far into the process.





We then moved into the theatre to plot the lights and sound. This is a really long process but the results were excellent, with our lighting man Alex doing an amazing job.





So tomorrow is a big day as it's the first time the cast will get to run the play on the set, very exciting stuff! Tickets are going really well so make sure you pick yours up from the RSAMD box office as soon as possible.

Location:Chandler theatre, RSAMD

Music....

 As well as featuring classic tunes of the period such as' Sing! Sing! Sing!' and 'Tuxedo Junction' - this interpretation of Much Ado features original compositions using Shakespeare's words.  Jess Hardwick plays the part of Ursula, have a listen above to hear her version of 'Sigh No More' - this is a recurring theme throughout the play and was written and recorded by our assistant director Andrew McGregor.

Our director speaks....

Our director for 'Much Ado About Nothing' is the wonderful Ali De Souza, here he tells us what his thoughts are as the show edges closer to its opening night on the 10th of June:

"As we glide into production week (like a cool swan, whose feet are paddling furiously below the surface of the calm water…) I am taking a few minutes to reflect on my wonderful cast and crew! The rehearsal process has been a joy – mainly because the play has engendered such passion in all of us. Much Ado about Nothing is so rich, so engaging and so surprisingly modern – not bad for a play written 412 years ago.  The Goddess of Loveliness has conferred all her gifts on the supremely talented cast, and still found plenty over in her coffers to bestow yet more loveliness on the supremely talented stage managers, designers, choreographer, movement directors and my invaluable assistant Andrew – whose talents worryingly know no limits. It all makes my job very fine indeed. We have a wee way to go, but time yet to go there, and I am looking forward very much to introducing that last crucial ingredient - the audience"

Tickets available from the RSAMD Box Office.

Beatrice writes...

Lucy Hollis is playing the part of Beatrice in our upcoming production, here's a little bit about where she it at right now:

"Rehearsals are coming along very well, so much fun. Its actually the first play I have done here at the Academy that feels like it changes every time we do it. New things are constantly being discovered and it still feels very fresh and playful, even 5 weeks on! Hopefully this means that on the performance nights it will still have that spark...hmm...thats the plan anyway. Getting into the Chandler on Wednesday, woop! Jess and I just practised the dance in our living room and it's pretty spectacular..."

To see more of Lucy talking about the play then have a look at our little sneak preview video on the right.  Tickets are going really well, you can pick your up from the RSAMD box office!

Set design

The play is set in Leonato's fading nightclub, once a place of great renown it has surely seen better days.  To turn this idea into reality the RSAMD backstage crew have been busy making a wonderful marble floor:

And have chosen some lovely 1950's wallpaper to really bring the set to life.

The get-in for the crew is next week and we can't wait to see how they transform the space of the Chandler into this world of faded decadence. Once it's all in place and the costumes are on it's going to look truly spectacular!

Tickets are available from the RSAMD box office now!

Costumes!

One of the most exciting parts of doing any show is the costume fitting, and when it's based in the 1950's then that only makes it even more exciting - they knew how to do style back then!  Here is Martin as Benedick, a soldier just coming back from war:

Molly is playing the part of Margaret, here she is in her summer dress:

One of the highlights of the show is the masked ball, here Bobby shows how her character Hero will be dressed at this party:

We did a run of act 2 this morning and it's coming along really well, it's amazing how sad and (even now in the 21st century) how funny Shakespeare's writing is.

Tickets are available from the RSAMD box office.

Dance! Dance! Dance!

Phew! A hard, but fun, morning of working through the main dance routine (to the swing tune Sing! Sing! Sing!) it's all looking really good and now we have the whole dance in place we can really work on getting it tight. Our choreographer Robert (see him studiously observing us below) has done am excellent job in creating a visually striking dance.






After dancing we really delved deep into the strange relationship between Beatrice and Benedict. It really is one of the great love stories and we can't wait to show it on the 10th-14th May. Only a week and a bit left to go....

Location:Renfield St,Glasgow,United Kingdom

Wedding Drama

Today's rehearsal was spent looking at the pivotal wedding scene, for those who don't know the story I won't tell you what happens, but I will tell you this.... it's heartbreakingly sad and highly dramatic!

Tomorrow morning is being spent going over the dance moves with our excellent choreographer (Robert Kerr from BA Musical Theatre) exciting, knackering, stuff!

We also received our posters from the printers today, so watch out for them making an appearance around the academy and remember, tickets are on sale now at the academy box office!

Welcome to our blog!

We are about to head into the last week of rehearsal before we move into the theatre space and things are coming together really nicely. The show is running from the 10th of May until the 14th. 


We have made a little video about the play that you can view to the right and there also a number of photos that were taken during rehearsals.


Here's a little bit more info about our show:


Shakespeare's richly dark comedy of the battle of the sexes, Much Ado About Nothing savours the trials of love and hate, and honour and betrayal.  Set in a 1950's Italian club this youthful production brings one of Shakespeare's most famous plays to life in extraordinary ways.  


Featuring live, original music.

Directed by: Ali de Souza assisted by Andrew McGregor

Cast includes: 
David Bode
Chris Fulton
Max Greig
Jess Hardwick
Lucy Hollis
Ross Mann
Martin McBride
Mark Rowley
Natalie Songer
Bobby Stewart
Molly Vevers

Tickets available:
In person: at the RSAMD Box Office
By phone: 0141 332 5057
On the web: Click here