In the meantime, to stave off that curious mix of anticipation and trepidation (with this year’s exams being towards a Masters, so even more difficult to predict!), I’ve been keeping myself busy with fond farewells to all. As I wrote last time, I actually think I’ve been busier since my degree ended, somehow! There’ve certainly been plenty of social opportunities to see off my time in Southampton as a student, and I’ve been determined to make the most of them and enjoy the surroundings of a city that’s now a second home to me.
Amongst the highlights of these brilliant farewell opportunities was the 24 Hour Show last weekend, and is in truth the event I’m probably still recovering from – it really takes it out of you! One of my favourite annual goings-on, and one which I fully encourage and any all to go for (even if you’ve no experience in performing, singing or dancing before), it’s a charity fundraiser with an incredibly unique and challenging twist.
As you’ve probably guessed from the name, when you’re in the 24 Hour Show, you’re tasked as a cast member with learning the name of a musical exactly 24 hours before you’re expected to perform that same show! This involves learning the entire thing (including songs, scenes and dances) overnight (who needs sleep, right?!), getting together a costume for it, building the entire set and technical aspects if you’re one of the amazing folks in the staging society StageSoc, and then practicing the material by yourself and in groups, all before watching the show collapse spectacularly in front of an audience’s eyes for charity. If there’s one thing to teach you the value of sleep, practice and getting things done in advance, it’s this show!
It’s also all undertaken for a bit of fun, with no pressure or great expectations on the cast as a result, and this year’s production was no exception. In fact, the show even strangely improved between the first (at 5pm) and second performances (at 8pm, forty-five minutes or so after the first one had finished – no rest for the wicked insomniac performers!), and was actually probably the strongest iteration of it I’ve been a part of, a testament to the talent and dedication of all of those involved. And, of course, when it went wrong, it went really very wrong - and the audiences, all behind us in our battle against sleep deprivation, seemed to love it!
It also proved a brilliant way to say goodbye to performing in Southampton. From a personal perspective, in what’s due to be my final show at the Annex Theatre, on Highfield Campus (a place I’ve probably spent way too much time for my degree’s health!), I was lucky enough to be given a quite unique part: the show’s narrator, with monologues galore and plenty of chances for over-the-top and cheesy characterisation.
However, whereas usually people have to find unique ways of smuggling scripts and line hints (as with no sleep, there’s no way of possibly learning them all!) on stage as part of props or by other inventive means, I was given a script on stage and asked to sit there throughout, raised above the show, with the ultimate goal of keeping it all on course – despite many an accidental attempt to knock it off kilter by confused cast members!
This meant that whenever my fellow actors and actresses struggled, I had the fun of trying to invent a new, but not too obvious (although the audiences guessed my role very quickly!), way of prompting them to keep things on track – my favourite being when a cast forgot they had to take off their jacket, so I had to quickly narrate “Of course, his coat was very wet as well!”. I was even granted the power of restarting an entire song if things went sufficiently awry – and I was delighted to have the chance to do so in the second show, when a number spectacularly collapsed in the first twenty seconds and it seemed the only thing to do!
It was a brilliant and truly memorable way to bow out of SUSU Showstoppers and Performing Arts as a whole alongside many a friend and talented performer alike, and I’m hugely grateful for such an amazing opportunity. The fact that it was all for the incredible Solent Mind charity was just an added bonus, and hopefully we can be proud of the great total we raised for them in having such a lot of fun at the same time – thanks to all involved!
The cast, band, production team and crew of the hectic 24 Hour Show 2015 – thanks guys! Credit: Claudia Ashken
So with performing in Southampton over, I’ve also been working on planning ahead with a goal of having a third and final trip to the Edinburgh Fringe this summer, as well as tying up loose ends on the Southampton bucket list I put together at the beginning of the year.
To this end, I had a great time in ticking one particular thing off it quite recently when I finally got the chance to go sailing on the Solent for the first time in four years here, which was a great reminder of how beautiful the city of Southampton actually is. Having said that, my girlfriend and I were on a Jet Viper speedboat at the time, so it was difficult to tell through the spray of the water and the pretty hefty winds hitting us in the face – definitely an experience I would recommend!
Seeing the city from the perspective of a speedboat was a new – and pretty enthralling – experience!
All in all, it’s been another fantastic week or so of celebrations in Southampton, enjoying some memorable final adventures in the city, all the while looking to the future.
So fingers crossed for everyone receiving news soon, be it today (for finalists), next week or even August – I hope you attain the fantastic results you deserve, and we’ll have even more to celebrate in the near future!
Good luck!
Robin
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