Sunday, 11 March 2012

Special: Farewell, farewell, Godspeed Titanic!


It was a musical nobody expected UWE to do. It was so different from the bouncy Our House of the previous year that I wasn’t initially interested in doing it, and only came in at the last minute to provide an extra male voice.

It’s developed into the greatest musical I’ve ever done, and I’m so sad that it’s now over.

Titanic, about the famous luxury liner that sank on it’s maiden voyage nearly 100 years ago, does not go down the line of the film. There’s no Jack, or Rose, or Celine Dion.

And thank God.

Because it’s FAR better than that.

The music is grand and epic, really giving the audience a sense of the excitement at boarding the ‘Largest Moving Object in the World’ and giving us an insight into what it was like on all three class levels: the first living in a ‘Remarkable Age’, whilst the third describe their dream jobs when they reach America, before the iceberg is struck and the excitement turns to confusion, panic and then acceptance of death, before the final scene shows reflection from the survivors who made it onto the Carpathia. If you missed out on watching the CPA do it, you really DID miss out.

Anyway, why has this been the best musical ever? Well, for one, the cast have been fantastic. The best cast I have been involved in bar none. That is not to say the casts of every other performance I’ve been in have been poor, I’ve enjoyed working with every cast, but never have I seen a group of people gel together like we have. It really is one big family, and I can’t wait to work with as many of you in the future on future musicals and the like. We’ve had laughs, we’ve had tears, we’ve made one very impressive spider diagram along the way, but most of all we have represented our university in one of the best ways possible.

As such, following on from the awards last night, I have decided to hand out a few of my own – you may even get small prizes if you’re lucky! So:

The Keep Calm and Carry On Award goes to Naomi Wilkinson and Jade Hall for carrying on with their final few scenes despite a clash of heads resulting in mild concussion for the pair of them.

The Best Outside Reference Award goes to Khoi Nguyen for his ‘Big Bang Theory’ knocking during the matinee.

The Best Audience Reaction Award goes to Adam Hopkins for the wolf whistles received on opening night when stepping out of his room.

The Consistently Funny Award goes to Paul Bailey for explaining that he still has a wife, receiving a laugh every single night.

Paul Bailey also receives the Online Maniac Award for tagging every single picture taken of us at socials or rehearsals.

Finally, The Shot in the Foot Award goes to Liam Gordon for trying to convince us the picture of his sister in his wallet was actually his seven year-old daughter – until he mentioned she was born in 1997.

A few quick thank-yous as well – to Alice Dalrymple and Lora Seward for organising buffet lunches, plugging us on the radio and being general good mother hens to us all, to Anthony Garnham, Lora and Lizzi Fortin for allowing us the use of their homes for socials and general merriment, to Ian Henderson, Jacquie Bell and Alexander Turasiewicz for putting their time and effort into direction, choreography and production, and to everyone else for playing their part to full effect and putting on a powerful, moving and exceptional production.

So, Titanic has been a rousing success, but as we know, all good things must come to an end at some point and sadly, that happened last night. Next year we go from the shipyard to the farmyard with the very tongue-in-cheek Honk! and an absolute mile away from where we were, but I know it’s going to be an absolute laugh.

See you all for next year’s musical?

Alright then!

Over and out from your ‘Big Mouth’ cast member, and lots of love to you all.

Elliot xx

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