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In School
way to end my school career as a technician. I couldn’t be prouder of the 20-strong crew. They all performed admirably,
despite very tight timings and copious unseen problems. They solved them calmly and quickly, performing to the level
of a professional crew and none of them have even finished Sixth form yet! It is a memory I will not soon forget – the
songs are still all stuck in my head after all, months after it has all finished.”
As it can be seen from this comment, the response to
Les Mis
at Borlase was fantastic. It seems that after the long
weekends of preparation and late nights of performance week, it was all worth it as a brilliant show was produced
that managed to touch so many in the Borlase community bringing different year groups together and creating new
friendships which will last much longer than the short time they were forged in during the journey of
Les Mis.
We hope that if you watched the production, you enjoyed every minute of it as much as we did; and if unfortunately you
were unable to get tickets as it was sold out, we hope you will come along and see the brilliant actors and musicians in
many of the other productions that Borlase put on throughout the year.
Laura Herbert Y12
Les Misérables
Make Up
On the last week before February half term, Borlase put on
LesMisérables
as their Senior Musical. It ran for five nights, from
Monday 11
th
to Friday 15
th
of February. Everyone who saw it would agree that it was indeed a memorable performance.
But the cast aren’t the only people who made the performances memorable! The make up and hair team are behind it
all too. Without the make up and hair, you wouldn’t get the authentic look. The production was by far the biggest one
that Borlase had ever attempted and many agree that it was the best!
The make up and hair team was led by Miss Maffey and met at Wednesday lunchtimes in the last few weeks leading up
to the real performances. There was a group of 15 of us, ranging fromYear 9 to Sixth Form, learning what each character
needed on their face and what their hair needed to be like. Sometimes it was hard work but it was great fun.
We had great fun experimenting on ourselves before putting the makeup on the cast – cuts and dirt were the most
entertaining! There were also some tricks of the trade that we learnt fromMiss Maffey – like using cereal with fake blood
to make a dried cut. By the end of the week, we were known as “Maffey’s Army” which each of us (who were there on
Friday night) had written across our foreheads. All of us were exhausted (to say the least) with the quick changes of the
cast going frompoor to a prostitute to a factory worker or student. By the end, you either had white on your face to show
you were dead or you had dirt to show you were poor.
We all had a wonderful time helping out with the production and I, personally, was glad to be a part of it.
Natasha Blazey Y9
Les Misérables:
a View from the Pit
Putting on a show on such a scale as
Les Mis
involves literally hundreds of people, working for many hours. Tensions
run high towards production week, but in the end it all seems to be worth it. All these people, all with different talents
and interests are all working towards a common goal. Whether you’re the lead role, on the front of house team or doing
make up backstage, everyone is vital to the running of the show. This is an amazing thing: there is no greater example
of teamwork than a musical.
Musicians are different to other stagey types. We’re never as stressed, we turn up half an hour before a performance,
when the cast and technical crew have been there for at least an hour and a half. You’re usually in some sort of confined
area with very limited view to the stage – making 80 bars of rest very boring.
Music is so vital in
Les Mis
. Being a sung-through musical, music enhances every word sung and ties everything together:
the constant musical themes that run through
Les Mis
are what make the show so great, and unify this massive piece of
work. The music for
Les Mis
is so iconic and emotive. One of the best things about playing in a pit is that you’re right there
