Camden Road The Musical: The Blog

All good things…

Rod Taylor — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:21:26 +0000

I know I am not the only one dreading the moment when the tent comes down and the Elephant finally plods away into the distance. What started as a disparate group of people has worked together over the last few months and grown into a true community. It has been a wonderful, life enhancing experience and we will all take a tremendous amount away from it. Thank you all for your warmth and kindness. Most importantly, enjoy the last two nights.

Rod Taylor

Dash that Sash

Anne Goldstein — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:34:42 +0000

One of the Mystery of Mysteries of the play is the suffragette sash. Why is it that I can never put it on the right way up and it always reads NEMOW ROF SETOV? I take it off, turn it round and it’s still upside down. It takes my suffragette friends to sort me out, which they devotedly do each evening. But it’s those sorts of kindnesses, like Charlotte helping people off the stage, that I will remember far after the production is finished.

Nearly there!

Helen Warriner — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:19:15 +0000

Tonight is the first dress rehearsal so all is eager anticipation and hope. The rehearsals in the marquee have gone remarkably well considering all the obstacles - eg no-one has tripped on the unfixed-down boards and no children have been lost, as far as I know. Jon and the rest of the team are amazingly good tempered and this keeps the whole atmosphere very amenable and the whole experience an enjoyable one. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone in costume this evening. When working at 90 Camden Road in the workshop, there were some fantastic creations being made and seeing it all come together willl be exciting, I believe- let you know later!

The final countdown

Liz Carter — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:40:49 +0000

Chaps and chappesses,

Each day I go to rehearsal feeling a little jaded after work and each day as I arrive at our white tent my mood is instantly lifted. Everyone is so lovely. The girls playing ‘left leg in - left leg out’ as we were waiting to begin on Wednesday; the little ‘in character’ asides between us during the public scenes; someone whispering ‘This is so much fun’ at the end of Act 2 yesterday. This is all adding up to be a tremendous and completely unique experience. ‘Have you done this sort of thing before?’ is the question. The answer ”Impossible’.

There are merely days to go now until we share what we’ve been learning with our friends, family and the community in attendance. I guess I’m already feeling tragic and meloncholy about it. The past few weeks have felt really full - I know I’m not alone when I say I feel like I’ve hardly had a moment to orgnaise life around the Elephant - but in return I’ve met you and Camden Road has become a lot friendlier.

Good luck everyone. All together - we’ll be great.

Liz

Can you Can Can?

Anne Goldstein — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:02:21 +0000

Such is my devotion to Dance (and Candy), that I dashed from a very busy day of training in London to the bowels of the Camden Centre, to take part in the Canteen Workers Can Can rehearsal. How could I miss an opportunity to dance with my new Camden Road the Musical friends? This was a rehearsal of glorious fun. We all gently glowed from the energy we expended. Candy put together a dance routine with high kicks that will impress everyone. I must ask ‘though - is it possible to do the Can Can wearing a skirt that’s elasticated at the bottom? Or will I end up being catapaulted across the North Stage as a thrilling finale?

Running Act 1

Rod Taylor — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:57:01 +0000

On Sunday we ran the whole of Act 1 for the first time, and after all the hard work on individual scenes we begin to see how the play will come together. This first attempt was inevitably a bit clunky, but some passionate and moving performances are already shining through.

Casting aside our scripts is daunting but at the same time rather liberating. Easy for me to say as I have very few lines, but there are still all the songs to learn. The MD’s advice was that if we learn the words the music will look after itself. Practising with the CD is good because you have to think the words rather than read them - particularly during long car journeys, but don’t get too absorbed if you are driving.

The workshop is well worth a visit if you have not managed to call in yet. The old bakery is a hive of creativity, with a bizarre variety of things including lobsters, cakes, pigs’ heads and skulls rolling off the production lines. Everyday objects from Ye Olde Camden Road.

Rod Taylor

Third Full Rehearsal etc

Helen Warriner — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:27:56 +0000

More fun at rehearsal - now scenes coming together - how songs fit in with dialogue - a lot of learning words ahead! Went to a photoshoot in preparation for Exhibition and we all later met to try and put together piece of ‘art work’ (for me, not being an artist, quite a tall order) Met again to look at work in progress and get ideas from the artist leaders and then took more photos and printed them out.
Met for a scene rehearsal and Jon managed to help me to get to know my charcted better. I plus husbang went to help in the workshop. I did some machine sewing and Frank did some cutting out for costume pieces (new experience for him)
Helen W

Momentum

Liz Carter — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:00:08 +0000

It appears that a number of people where I work have seen or heard something in the media about The Vanishing Elephant. Well done to everyone who’s communicating with the press. It’s working.

See you at rehearsals.

Liz

Carter the Great, The Vanishing Sacred Elephant

Cemeteries…

Alison — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:05:47 +0000

I went cemetery visiting today, though as it was totally on the spur of the moment I didn’t really know who I was looking for, or more exactly where I would find them.

However I did stumble upon Canon Hoare and Charles Tattershall Dodd in Woodbury Park Cemetery and - a total fluke - the parents of Charlie Dobell (Arthur and Elizabeth) in Tunbridge Wells main Cemetery. They had stayed in Tunbridge Wells, living on John Street and finally Thomas Street - unlike Will Gower’s family who had moved to Sidcup by the 1901 Census.

It was late afternoon and the sun was shining in a clear blue sky - no doubt a sharp contrast to the day in Jaunary 1889 when the two boys were hanged…

Murder trial on BBC news

Rod Taylor — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:08:50 +0000

There is a piece on the local BBC TV news today, focussing on the Will Gower murder trial. See it here:

BBC South East news story