It's been a while since I have blogged and that's because Betsy and I have been working hard in rehearsals with Chickenshed. Chickenshed is an inclusive theatre company based in Southgate. This year they are producing an original piece loosely based on the traditional story of Cinderella.
Graham Hollick is Chickenshed's resident designer and along with his brilliant wardrobe department has designed a show that links to the late 1950's and early 1960's. Circle skirts, rolled up jeans, snoods and quiffs all play a part in making Cinderella an original yet vintage production.
Betsy's first challenge was to create a makeup for the ugly sisters, Daphne and Hilda. Betsy worked with a lovely student Alisha and together they designed a look that worked with the 50's inspired costume and wigs. Daniel and Micheal apply their own make up each night so Alisha and Betsy taught the boys how to apply powder, lashings of eye colour, painted lips and eyelashes. My job was to style wigs in to blonde bombshells.
The Evil Stepmother is played by the lovely and talented Belinda McGuirk. Belinda has been at Chickenshed since she was a child and is a key member of the core company. We began by creating a rolled fringe on to her forehead but during technical rehearsals we discovered that under the lighting the fringe overshadowed Belinda's face and expressions. I quickly changed the fringe and rolled it backwards, I then used a snood to catch her hair up at the back. Betsy designed a 1950's make up that was easy for Belinda to recreate for every show.
In the second act for the Bollywood Ball Belinda swaps her white snood for a gold one and the boys swap their wigs for a Jedward inspired look (don't ask just go with it).
Then of course we have Cinderella played by the beautiful Georgie. She starts the show with a Mary Ann front roll and we catch up the sides in victory rolls. She wears rags in the back of her hair. For the transformation.....well I wont spoil it, you will have to go and see the show.
Here she is in the first act meeting her Fairy Godfather played by Jonny Morton.
Chickenshed never fail to produce exciting and original shows which are always an honour to be part of. A talented cast, fantastic band, brilliant technical staff and an enthusiastic ensemble of children and youth theatre students make this a Christmas show worth seeing.
Cinderella opens on the 30th November at Chickenshed Theatre, Chase Side, Southgate, N14 4PE Box Office: 020 8292 9222
