News

We follow the cast, crew and writers of our
Under 11s Playwriting project as the show comes together!

Day 1 of Under 11s 2012 by Suzanne Gorman – Director

This first day is always very exciting . It’s when the whole team comes together for the first time for a read through of all the plays, we have our six actors, set and costume designers, sound and lighting designer, stage management team, production department, education department and our under 11s producer. It’s quite a team.

The first thing we did was have the actors read through all the plays. It was great to hear them aloud, some of them were really powerful, others made us laugh, they all came off the page beautifully.

After reading the plays our set and costume designer showed us all a model of how the set was going to be for each play and talked about costumes- the actors like talking costumes!!

In the afternoon we started rehearsals proper- first with red vs blue. This is a really bold piece so we’ve tried give that flavour in the set and also how we act it out. The cereal killer was next which made us all laugh and then onto mars and venus – what an epic – lots for us to explore here in the characters of the emperor, queen and princess and their relationship.

It was a great start to the week, we’re having lots of fun already and I can’t wait for tomorrow.

Amaka Okafor – Actor

Hello! My name is Amaka and I am one of the six actors performing in show under 11’s. Each day we have been taking it in turns to do the warm up which is basically us just getting our bodies, voices and minds ready to perform the show, a lot like an athlete before a big race.
It was my turn to do the physical warm up today and I just got everyone to play games and run around, just like break time at my old school, we did this until we were all warmed up and ready to go. We worked on solid today and I am playing Sheila who is Emily’s best friend. I just tried my costume on which really helped me get into character. She wears a crazy bright dress, which is a bit itchy “don’t tell anyone I said that” But the dress is perfect for Sheila. It’s really different compared to my costume for Red vs. Blue, I’m playing a very young princess called ruby in that play, and I get to wear a proper fairytale costume which is red and gold. I can’t wait to perform all the plays and make you all really pleased, I have to be honest I am a little nervous about all the scene changes and costume changes but I just know it’s gonna be great. See all next week!

Akbar Kurtha – Actor

Hey Everyone, I’m Akbar one of the actors working on the Under 11’s project. It’s so exciting to be working on these scripts and acting them out on a proper stage in the West End of London.
All the actors met for the first time on Monday and by Wednesday we did all the plays for the first time together. This show is going to be really good because the scripts are fantastic. The great thing about being an actor is that you have lots of fun with people who have only met.
The director, Suzanne, tells us what to do on stage and this is called rehearsing. Every morning so we start with a physical warm-up so we play some games. This way we have lots of energy for practicing the plays.
I love all the characters I’m playing. On Tuesday, we worked on THE PENCIL which is a really good story written by some young writers from India.
Because I’m playing also playing a dad in the CEREAL KILLER, the director Suzanne wants me to put a cushion under my shirt so it looks like I’ve got a belly and I look a bit different from the dad in THE PENCIL. The dad in THE CEREAL KILLER eats lots of cereal and so he would have a really big belly!!!

Kyle Forman

Hello my name is Kyle I am currently doing a week’s work experience at Soho Theatre, today is my last day and I am really sad to leave because everyone hear is lovely and I love working on the Under 11’s project “ There great plays !” Over the last 4 days I have been helping Suzanne the director, Martha the stage manager and the actors to make their time a little bit easier. I’m wanting to be an actor when I leave school so working at Soho is giving me a great insight into true working life.
Today I have been watching the plays and looking at easier ways for the actors to set the stage up and get off the stage. As it is my last day I wrote Suzanne a card saying thank you and I sang a song to the whole company as I also write songs and sing, I think they all really liked it.
After I have finished writing this blog I am going to be filling out an evaluation form and then going back into the theatre to work with everyone for my last couple of hours. This has been a great experience and all the plays look great you should all be really excited to watch them! Bye.