Hey all!
Yes, it's been a while since I have posted and I am sorry. The thing is that, the past few months have been completely crazy! Between exams, musical rehearsals, friends and packing for holidays I have been a tiny bit busy. Fortunately I am on holiday at the moment and tomorrow, in fact, I will be going to this wonderful place called Moneglia with a lot of wonderful friends!
Today I really want to share with all of you the best experience of my life so far: the production Marvelous Matilda! As I have said before, theater is my main passion and being on stage for the rest of my life is my dream; well, this production was that dream too.
To begin with, I believe most of you know the story of Matilda from the book 'Matilda' by Roald Dahl. Although it's a children's book, I personally feel that it has a lot to teach to adults as well in terms of how to treat children, how to believe in themselves and how to be fair towards others. The story revolves around this little girl who has mean and ignorant parents who not only don't appreciate her, but they also don't appreciate her brilliant mind. Matilda at a very young age reads and solves mathematical problems in her head with no hesitation. She becomes so brilliant that she can actually move objects with her eyes. Her first day of school, for which she was very excited, is ruined by a tyrannical and strict Principal named Trunchbull; however, her class teacher Ms. Honey, sees her potential and decides to help her explore her intelligence. Soon Ms. Honey and Matilda become really close friends and after a struggle against the principle and the girl's parents, Ms. Honey adopts Matilda and they live happily forever after.
The book has been turned into a movie and, eventually, the movie was turned into a musical which was acted at West End and Broadway winning many awards. (For more details open this link: http://www.matildathemusical.com/)
Believe it or not, when I was a child 'Matilda sei mitica' was actually my favorite movie; so when I got the role of Ms. Honey after an audition I was not only happy, I was really really excited!
For a month I watched videos of the play on Youtube, I tried to walk like Ms. Honey, to dress like her, to keep my hair the same way she did, to talk like her and I even wore glasses when studying! All of this helped me get into character and perhaps for the first time, I sometimes could not recognize myself in my own movements, I only saw myself as Jennifer Honey. The process of understanding such a wonderful and sweet character helped me in becoming a more apprehensive and kind person myself.
In May, rehearsals started. Our perfect, and I mean literally perfect, director Dr. Zulfia Shaikh lead us step by step in order to put up a splendid show. During rehearsal there was concentration, fun times, laughter, singing, dancing, crying (yes, I swear) and teamwork. Although I had exams simultaneously and thus ended up sleeping only four hours every night for more than a month, I have to say that I waited the entire day to go to rehearsals. The passion and dedication that filled the air really helped us to support each other and put our hearts into the Musical. The ones who surprised me the most were the little children who learnt their lines quickly and ended up doing a fabulous job on stage by bringing the play to life and giving it a cute touch. Matilda was literally their life for that period of time. It was not just about putting all our energy in rehearsals everyday for four and a half hours, it was also participating in mall walks, promoting and selling tickets, getting attention by singing in shops and dancing in corridors and encouraging the buying of online tickets too. The constant effort paid off.
After a lot of hard work and after I finished exams (which also went really well), was showtime. Two days, four shows, all sold out. I absolutely adored playing Ms. Honey, singing my songs, acting my lines, building chemistry with Matilda, helping backstage and having fun with friends. I discovered that every time I got into costume and I got my make up done - I fell down a rabbit hole, like the one in Alice in Wonderland; just like my director and teacher always said and taught me. Lights, props, set up, costumes and make up - all of it made it a sort of different life. When I was on stage, I was not Giorgia anymore. It was beautiful, so beautiful. I will cherish those moments on stage, backstage, at home practicing, the seconds before going on stage, the friendships, the emotions I felt, the things I learnt, the rehearsals and the character I played forever.
It took a while to wear off Ms. Honey's character, but as Shakespeare once said: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages."
'Even if you are little you can do a lot, you musn't let a little thing like little stop you' - Matilda
Here are a few picturesss as usual - Thank you so much Bangalore School of Speech and Drama, Chowdiah Memorial Hall and all my dear dear friends.
Yes, it's been a while since I have posted and I am sorry. The thing is that, the past few months have been completely crazy! Between exams, musical rehearsals, friends and packing for holidays I have been a tiny bit busy. Fortunately I am on holiday at the moment and tomorrow, in fact, I will be going to this wonderful place called Moneglia with a lot of wonderful friends!
Today I really want to share with all of you the best experience of my life so far: the production Marvelous Matilda! As I have said before, theater is my main passion and being on stage for the rest of my life is my dream; well, this production was that dream too.
To begin with, I believe most of you know the story of Matilda from the book 'Matilda' by Roald Dahl. Although it's a children's book, I personally feel that it has a lot to teach to adults as well in terms of how to treat children, how to believe in themselves and how to be fair towards others. The story revolves around this little girl who has mean and ignorant parents who not only don't appreciate her, but they also don't appreciate her brilliant mind. Matilda at a very young age reads and solves mathematical problems in her head with no hesitation. She becomes so brilliant that she can actually move objects with her eyes. Her first day of school, for which she was very excited, is ruined by a tyrannical and strict Principal named Trunchbull; however, her class teacher Ms. Honey, sees her potential and decides to help her explore her intelligence. Soon Ms. Honey and Matilda become really close friends and after a struggle against the principle and the girl's parents, Ms. Honey adopts Matilda and they live happily forever after.
The book has been turned into a movie and, eventually, the movie was turned into a musical which was acted at West End and Broadway winning many awards. (For more details open this link: http://www.matildathemusical.com/)
Believe it or not, when I was a child 'Matilda sei mitica' was actually my favorite movie; so when I got the role of Ms. Honey after an audition I was not only happy, I was really really excited!
For a month I watched videos of the play on Youtube, I tried to walk like Ms. Honey, to dress like her, to keep my hair the same way she did, to talk like her and I even wore glasses when studying! All of this helped me get into character and perhaps for the first time, I sometimes could not recognize myself in my own movements, I only saw myself as Jennifer Honey. The process of understanding such a wonderful and sweet character helped me in becoming a more apprehensive and kind person myself.
In May, rehearsals started. Our perfect, and I mean literally perfect, director Dr. Zulfia Shaikh lead us step by step in order to put up a splendid show. During rehearsal there was concentration, fun times, laughter, singing, dancing, crying (yes, I swear) and teamwork. Although I had exams simultaneously and thus ended up sleeping only four hours every night for more than a month, I have to say that I waited the entire day to go to rehearsals. The passion and dedication that filled the air really helped us to support each other and put our hearts into the Musical. The ones who surprised me the most were the little children who learnt their lines quickly and ended up doing a fabulous job on stage by bringing the play to life and giving it a cute touch. Matilda was literally their life for that period of time. It was not just about putting all our energy in rehearsals everyday for four and a half hours, it was also participating in mall walks, promoting and selling tickets, getting attention by singing in shops and dancing in corridors and encouraging the buying of online tickets too. The constant effort paid off.
After a lot of hard work and after I finished exams (which also went really well), was showtime. Two days, four shows, all sold out. I absolutely adored playing Ms. Honey, singing my songs, acting my lines, building chemistry with Matilda, helping backstage and having fun with friends. I discovered that every time I got into costume and I got my make up done - I fell down a rabbit hole, like the one in Alice in Wonderland; just like my director and teacher always said and taught me. Lights, props, set up, costumes and make up - all of it made it a sort of different life. When I was on stage, I was not Giorgia anymore. It was beautiful, so beautiful. I will cherish those moments on stage, backstage, at home practicing, the seconds before going on stage, the friendships, the emotions I felt, the things I learnt, the rehearsals and the character I played forever.
It took a while to wear off Ms. Honey's character, but as Shakespeare once said: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages."
'Even if you are little you can do a lot, you musn't let a little thing like little stop you' - Matilda
Here are a few picturesss as usual - Thank you so much Bangalore School of Speech and Drama, Chowdiah Memorial Hall and all my dear dear friends.
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