Sharpening Up My Cockney Accent

Inigo and I are having a very good time going to our play rehearsals every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. Some nights are boring and there isn’t much to do, and some nights are full of choreography, singing and “blocking.” (As a newbie to this whole live stage experience, I have learned that “blocking” is where the director walks us through a scene to show us exactly where we are supposed to stand and how we’re supposed to look.)

As a “non-principal” actor in this production, my official role is “Londoner.” But in that role, I have a few choice parts I have been asked to play:

In the song Who Will Buy?, I am a school teacher, marching across the stage with 6 children. I pretend to write on an invisible chalk board while the children are misbehaving behind my back. That will be fun. The school kids are cute and full of life. We’re already having fun hanging out together.

My next part is new to me. Last weekend I got a call from the director and she actually gave me lines! At the end of the play, when Bill Sykes has beaten Nancy to death I get to first whisper his name, “Bill Sykes” and then when the shock of hearing his name has reverberated around the stage, I then SCREAM, “It’s Nancy! He’s killed Nancy!”

Of course, I have to say it in my best Cockney accent.

Whatever that is.

Inigo has a line in this scene too. When Bill Sykes stumbles on stage, holding Oliver as a hostage, Inigo – with all the shock and horror he can muster – points and yells, “Look! There he is!”

I’m trying to teach Inigo to keep looking scared, horrified, etc. after he delivers his line. Tonight, he said his line – perfectly I must add – and about 2 seconds later, scratched his behind and looked back at me to see if he’d done a good job.

I tell ya, he doesn’t need to worry. He did an amazing job. He’s been practicing that line for a month and he’s got that accent PERFECTED!!! I knew that having a house full of drama queens would eventually pay off.

(ME? Dramatic?!?!? NEVER!!!!!)

I know, to a lot of people this isn’t a big deal. But this is something I’ve always wanted to do. And I’m so glad I get to have this experience, with a director I love and respect, before we head off to New Florin.

However…. (and now is the frustrating part)…..

COSTUMES.

Blah!

Our production company is using the costumes that the high school uses. Yes. Teeny tiny teenagers. Kids that have no hips, no guts and certainly no boobs.

It was HUMILIATING going to the costume fitting tonight to try to find a skirt that would pull up over my massive hips. And I will admit that I actually ripped one of them trying to get it off. Why don’t people sew with elastic?!?!?

I brought home a couple skirts, but I am thinking that sewing a skirt can’t be too hard. I think I’ll just buy some cheap fabric and make my own. I can get it done in an afternoon, I think. And I’ll put ELASTIC in the waistband. DUH.

Of course, I’ll need to find my sewing machine and dust it off first….

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We had another wonderful Saturday in My National Park over Memorial Day Weekend. This time we went with my sister, Red, and niece, SaJo, who came up to visit from Happy Valley. Thankfully our good fortune held and we were able to see three more bears. That was especially nice since SaJo has never seen a bear in the wild and the last bear Red saw was 16 years ago.

I took another gazillion photos. My hard drive is getting FULL to the brim with pictures of My Park.

Shackie has the same problem.

So we got together and decided we needed to create a blog dedicated to our photographs and our experiences of the Park.

And so, we give you,
THIS.
Our blog dedicated to the one place on earth that we love the most.

We hope you enjoy it! Because we enjoyed going there and taking the pictures for you!