We have worked for eleven weeks preparing Ring Round the Moon for the Rondo Theatre this week. We have rehearsed three times a week, until late into the night, making sure that every word of the script is said with the right meaning, the right intonation and the right emotion.
Now, as I refresh the Bath Chronicle review page every two minutes, I wonder if the hard work has paid off. I wonder if the enjoyment that we have shows through to the audience. I wonder if we have enough pace, enough jokes, enough food for thought.
The play is set in 1910 in a Chateau in France, the main characters are twins Hugo and Frederic, completely alike in their appearance, but so different in every other way. Hugo plots away the evening so that he can break up the engagement of his brother Frederic and Diana, a glamorous wealthy woman, who is also spoilt beyond belief. Hugo hires a young ballet dancer, Isabelle, to try to lure Frederic away, so that Hugo can... well, we are not really sure of Hugo’s motives at first.
The whole evening is set on the evening of a ball with Hugo and Frederic’s Aunt overseeing the events. She is prone to a little scheme or two herself which wonderfully ties in Isabelle’s mother and also her companion Capulet who both bring such wonderful romance and fairy tale dreams into the play.
Of course we cannot forget Diana’s father Messerschman, a rich old Jew who has more money than happiness, his mistress Lady India is having an affair with his private secretary, Patrice, and not even his noodles can keep his spirits up.
Last, but most certainly not least, we have the butler, Joshua, who delivers my most favourite line of the play. But you will have to come and see it to hear that.
The play has the most fabulous costumes and set and I am incredibly lucky to be a part of it. I personally love the darker side of the play, hidden behind the comedy and wit there are the ideas that money cannot buy happiness, of a want to climb the social ladder and the problems and hurt that one can go through when they fall in love with the wrong person.
Whilst I write this, I have refreshed the review page numerous times and still the review has not been put on the website. I am almost more nervous than I sometimes am before going on stage. I know that the review doesn’t matter, because I know that the play is a success. The cast are happy, my friends and family who have already seen it are happy, and there is not much more I can ask for than that.
But a little piece of me wants this review to love it too, not content with the well wishes and compliments of friends I feel that I need to see it in writing. Of course if I didn’t know that there was going to be a review, I wouldn’t feel this need at all. To be a critic and an actress at the same time is an odd thing. I will contemplate the position a little more as I continue to wait... and click ‘refresh’.
Ring Round the Moon is on at the Rondo Theatre from Wednesday 21st April 2010 to Saturday 24th April 2010 at 7.30pm
