Been 7 years since the first Mahonia went on stage at PACE and now a bright, clean and shiny new version for summer 2015 hits the Wynd stage tonight !!
Saturday 8th August 2015 – 7.30pm
Fests are never easy. Mhairi Fests particularly.
To strive to seek to find and not to yield …. This is our artistic creed .
For this bespoke cast of summer PACE it has been just , that an uphill , gruelling , frustrating and undoubtedly emotional struggle …but what a view from our mountain top! What a glorious theatre end.
It is amazing what you can achieve in 7 days…more so what you can personally discover about yourself and the way you perform.
The way you are …the way you find you can be …maybe Free?
It has been hard for younger and less experienced PACE in my fest show , the ones who maybe came bounding confidently in from other summerfest projects …thinking it would be easy and who for a good while found it so difficult to fit in …to know how to be again , in this smaller more dynamic 5D ” pool of glittering PACE talent”
I hope you understand now how much extra it takes, to get it.
There is acting and there is Acting. The “handful” of Actors and Actresses, who carry this very demanding play , I would safely say , are some of the most talented youth performers in Scotland , if not the UK today.
They stand head and shoulders above the rest, simply because of the degree of effort that they are prepared and quite naturally bring to any of their stage experiences. The bar is forever pushed higher …the way , always has to be better for them.
Here in this crazy week …they took what is potentially a 6 week rehearsal script , and made it happen ” beautifully ” in 7 days.
They quite literally sweated , bleed and tearfully suffered for their Art.
Make no mistake …this is what youth theatre can look like with that X factor ..that drive to succeed beyond the fun and friendship of a summer project.
But have we had fun ?
Of course we have and those that come tonight to be enthralled will see just that …how to really have fun ” on stage ” ..how to play till your heart is ripe to burst.
The play is always within you …the music is all around…all you have to do is listen!
My eternally grateful and more personal thanks to my superb assistant director Chloe Lupton , someone I will now find it very hard to be without. A girl who came from the first Mahonia as a naive young PACE actress called Hope ….and who has emerged an absolute “Theatre Angel”
I also want to thank Pauline for her ” crowning glories” this week – all will be revealed …!!!
To the stage management team for their patience as I tried in stops and starts , to find this play
And to Fraser Walker and Neil Smith – beacons of dazzling creativity in an ever expanding technical PACE universe
You bring me Inspiration …you bring me Magic ..you give me the light to find ” my way ” .
A good day …a great play and the promise of a brighter tomorrow
Thank you to All
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