Our 7th festival performance at the Corn Exchange Theatre,Wallingford last night was a great way to go out. The audience were real ‘listeners’ and whilst there was laughter, it seemed we kept them guessing with the change from comedy to tragedy. The adjudicator, Paul Fowler really went into depth with his analysis, exploring the themes, styles and performances. We felt very humbled when he went on to give us glowing feedback and quite simply the ‘dream’ adjudication every company must wish for on the festival circuit.
The play has evolved so much from those two preview performances
in 2012. We had put the play together in five weeks and had great fun doing it.
Despite low attendance, those ‘happy few’ who did see it gave us positive
feedback and made us think that it would be an ideal festival entry- 2 actors, 2
stools and a length of rope! We re-rehearsed and added even more touches and
moments to the play, not major re-writes just ‘tweaks’ here and there. What was most interesting was how Becky and Darren developed the material throughout the performances and explored the characters. It gave the play even more depth and emotion this time round as well as not forgetting the plays comedy routines which were certainly milked for all they were worth by our two clowns!
In terms of awards, ‘Funny Ha Ha!’ has been our most successful
festival entry picking up seven prizes for acting, writing and direction, so far.
We shall be sad to leave the play behind but there may be some forthcoming news which would be a fitting end to the ‘Funny Ha Ha!’ journey.
Keep watching the blogs and facebook page for news...