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When Marina asked me almost exactly a year ago at a Christmas party whether I'd like to direct the Nomad pantomime, my initial reaction was that of fear, dread and total negativity! It was simply the enormity of a pantomime that had me hiding in a corner and trying desperately to find someone other than Marina to talk to! The truth is that I had a sneaking suspicion that I might end up enjoying it, and indeed memories from the last Nomad pantomime I directed, Aladdin at the Electric Theatre in 1998, were still very warm. And so I accepted, determined that the experience wouldn't be stressful. And then ... the auditions. I turned up with audition forms for, say, 20-30 Nomes, anticipating that I would spend a good 10 to 15 minutes assessing their performance skills. Lindsay (our MD) and I were therefore a little aghast to find that 102 of our youngest members turned up! 'How wonderful that we have such a strong youth group at the Nomads'- maybe that should have been the first thought that came to my mind, but I confess it wasn't! I had initially decided that 8 children per team would be sufficient (ah, the benefit of hindsight) but because of the talent displayed, felt that 14 per team would be more appropriate! In the period between the auditions and first rehearsals I was involved in another production at the Electric, and so by the time rehearsals started I had no stage crew, no matrons, no lighting and sound operators and designers, no props people, no-one to look after costumes and no producer/production co-ordinator. Chaos reigned supreme as I suddenly found myself with a script (though beautifully written by our very own Peter Forbes), a cast of 45 and very little else. At this point I would like to thank the following from the bottom of my heart for coming in and saving both the show and me. First and foremost to Jemma Brodie, the Fairy Godmother in more ways than one, who has literally relieved me of most of the background work that needed to be done, leaving me the time to direct the show. To Roger Brandon-Jones and Charles Hope, both of whom have done a huge amount of work on the wonderful sets, lighting, sound etc. And finally, but by no means least to Nicky Bentley and Lindsay Macaulay, who have both been brilliant with the kids and worked tirelessly to bring the musical numbers up to scratch. Enjoy the show!
Huge amounts of thanks also to:
Dermot McLaughlin, Fairy Godmother Wardrobe, The Big Brother House, Mel Bussicott, Jill Evans, George Lucas and the makers of Star Wars.
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