Packed houses and great acclaim for Bottisham Players’ Sleeping Beauty. But what goes on behind the scenes? Sophie Wilson, veteran of many successful productions, lifts the curtain for us to reveal a lot of paddling furiously, quick thinking and teamwork to ensure the show goes on...

How did you spend Saturday 26th January 2008? I was counting peals of thunder from stage left’s wings while hitched to the front of a black swan carrying the Black Fairy Carabosse (Pam Daish). ONE. I was desperately wondering why Wanda Bullock, the other "evil henchwoman" of the Black Fairy, who should also be pulling the swan, hadn’t got off the stage at the end of singing "On a Wonderful Day Like Today". TWO. Stage Manager Liam Clarke buttons the long black cloak round me and he, Pam and I rapidly agree that I’ll do it by myself - which I’ve never done. THREE. The swan is difficult to get moving, but with an extra ‘heave’ I manage it and Carabosse sweeps on stage as Bob Newman breaks in to the introduction to "Trouble". Once again we fulfill the old saying: Its all right on the night!

Back in October 2007, when we first read Peter Denyer’s script for "Sleeping Beauty", it was a short experience. We wondered what the chorus would be doing, thinking we’d just be singing and dancing a couple of times and dozing in the dressing room the rest of the time. Director Val Quy was wondorously inventive, making chorus members into additional roles - "evil henchwoman" you know about, we also had a stork (Nickie Dailly), a couple of ladies-in-waiting (Julie Dean and Lynda Ibbitt) attending King and Queen (Stephen and Marilyn Harmer), Beauty’s toys (Jenny and Henry Kingsmill, Olivia Wade-Gladwill, Gina Chambers and Freya Jackman) who defend her from the Black Fairy, palace guards (Frank Hancocks and John Dean) to attend to Beauty (Minnie Wilmott) after she pricks her finger on the spindle, gypsy dancers (Linda Larner, April Cook, Flora Barrett, Nicola Slater and Anita Lang) to lead the celebration after the Prince (Ryan Noyes) awakens Beauty and the cobwebbed court from their hundred years of slumber - the court defended by the Black Knight (Luke Hurst) and forest of briars (all the junior chorus - the stork, the toys plus Jazmin Cook, Lewis Hatley). Minor roles in the script are upgraded - the Gold and Silver Fairies (Chris Clarke and Margret Coles) who have just a couple of lines each in the christening scene become full-time companions of the Lilac Fairy (Rosemary Jolley), while the Prince’s huntsman (John Dean) figures out how to go completely over the top on the strength of his couple of lines. A few rehearsals in, we’re having a reading of the next play round at Rosemary’s house and Pam says she hates one of the "Good news, Bad news" jokes between herself and Pickles (Ted Sketchley) and Nanny (Alistair White) - so I wrote her a new one: "bad news: a tractor loaded with manure has crashed into your house. Good news: I look into the future and see you growing wonderful rhubarb".

As always, it starts out slowly. While Val is still picking out songs, the chorus get just one rehearsal a week - singing the first couple with musical director Marika Newman. Next Sunday there are a couple more. Then another. And finally six: "The Sun has got his Hat On"; "On a Wonderful Day Like Today"; "Dreamland"; "Seasons of Love"; "It Don’t Mean a Thing" and "Stuff Like That There". "Dreamland" was new to us, a lovely lullaby: when we’d learned to sing it harmoniously we began to worry that it would be the most susceptible to being ruined by choreography, but Val decreed choir-like stillness so that we could bring out the beauty of the song. "Stuff Like That There" was such a different song from what we were used to (I was an exception in the chorus: I’d actually heard it before, which helped) that it wasn’t liked very much and it was very difficult to learn and sing with its tongue twisting lyrics. In December choreographer Hayley Radford showed us she had the measure of "Stuff" - she designed movements that actually helped us learn it! By the time of the performances we quite liked it!

In January things start getting serious - three rehearsals a week. At this stage we "evil henchwomen" are completely unsure how Carabosse’s chariot works - we usually follow her on, miming pushing it. An "evil henchman" (Lawrie Clarke) is added and we realise that we can’t just stand there like dummies as Pam sings "One" - so we develop the idea of dancing along with her - freezing back to attention if she glances at us!

Which brings me back to the performance. The chorus are on twice, quickly, for "The Sun has got his Hat On" and "On a Wonderful Day Like Today". Most of them stay on after that, but I slink off stage right and dash round the corridors and back on stage left. Where I should have met Wanda... After pulling the swan on stage, I get to "relax" - an "evil henchwoman" glowering at the audience, I can find out who’s watching that I know! Then pull the swan off stage right and go back to the dressing room for a proper bit of relaxation - must be all of ten minutes before the chorus are back on for "Dreamland", though we’ve the Toys to help change costume - twice - before that. The end of Act 1 sees us sleeping for a hundred years under the influence of the Lilac Fairy’s "dust of sleep" - glitter that tastes foul if you get it in your mouth and you keep finding "dust of sleep" everywhere - in your bed, in the bath! During the interval we’re confined to the dressing room - that’s the period of greatest recrimination for Wanda: "I was on stage and began to realise I shouldn’t be there. I shouldn’t be here, I was thinking. But too late". At the start of Act 2 the chorus are back on as the Prince’s retinue, so we need to make our costumes look as different as possible... We sing "Seasons of Love" and troop off stage left, the wings jammed with all of us. We have to hurry, since its back on stage as the "cobwebbed court" (the cobwebs are nylon mesh) dressed and positionned exactly as we were at the end of Act 1. The Prince beats the Black Knight, clears away the forest of briars and we wake up. Another dash off stage, wait until the set is changed while the Prince, Beauty and Nanny perform in front of tabs (in front of the curtain). This often saw us waiting for ages as the various children come up and sing "Sugar, Sugar" with Nanny and get rewarded with sweets - we all watch the stage manager’s monitor. Then its "It don’t mean a thing" with the gypsy dancers out front: Linda, April, Flora and Nicola perform while Anita looks on beningly: in the bridge Anita and I swing to the beat. And we’re off again. I change to "evil henchwoman" (put on a long black cloak) and with Wanda and Lawrie we go and dance foolishly while Carabosse sings "One". Back off again, change back to a member of the court, then rapidly back on to sing the finale song "Stuff Like That There" with all its complicated actions. We go off, there’s the community song (its "Wiggly Woo" again - half the audience must know it by heart - the cast certainly do) and then its walk down time. Frank, Wanda, Linda, April, Lawrie and I have to wave big flags. I just catch the King’s crown with mine, but Stephen reacts rapidly and catches it before it falls! Once more through "On a Wonderful Day Like Today" and its all over. Until next year!

--Sophie Wilson

This article first appeared in Lode Star issue 375, March 2008. Photography by John Wells.