5 Things to Know Before your First Show and Tech Week

I don’t come from a performance heavy family so when I was 15 and did my first show, I was blind going in.

These are 5 things I feel like every newcomer performer should be told

1.     Jeans have NO place during show runs. If you’ve just performed for 2 and a half hours and its like 10 pm, the last thing you want to do is shove yourself back into them. Trust me sweats are your best friend, unless its wrap party, then wear your jeans til the cows come home.

 

they're dead to you

2.     Eat. I always forgot to eat during my first show and it affected my performance. McDonalds and green room biscuits are fun but you need to balance  it. Don’t mean to sound like your mother but make up is already hurting your skin , a tonne of junk food ain’t gonna help.

 

3.     Take your time. Yes, you might be able to get hair, makeup and costume done in 15 minutes. But its rushed and you’re not in the right headspace. Its best to be calm and collected. Moral of the story, don’t show up 30 minutes before the show goes on.

 

4.     Hang up and tidy up your costume and props! Its best for everyone involved. You know where your stuff is for the next day. You also aren’t getting in everyone’s way as you are probably sharing a dressing room. Seems basic but you don’t want to be that person.

 

5.     Take your makeup off. So so so important. Yes you are tired, yes you have work or school tomorrow but your skin doesn’t care. It’s the largest organ in the body, respect it. Even if it’s a makeup wipe. If you’re young and have someone collecting you or you’re public transporting yourself home, wipe your makeup off during that journey. Just don’t leave the wipe in said transport, shove it in a bin or pocket. Tiredness isn’t an excuse to litter.

 

I hope this helped. They seem like they are pretty obvious but I knew none of them when I started.

Have an awesome day. See ya around

It Chapter 1 Review

So, I know what you’re thinking. Why am I writing an It review a solid 6 months after I wrote about It Chapter 2? Simple answer: went to watch the sequel at the cinema in September and wasn’t running the blog in 2017 when I went see the first IT. But anyway, enough rambling let’s get started.

This review obviously contains major spoilers

So, the It I’m reviewing is the 2017 remake of the Stephen King novel. The film follows the Losers Club (Bill, Eddie, Stanley, Richie, Bev, Ben and Mike) as they try to figure out what’s happened to Billy’s brother Georgie and the rest of the kids that go missing in Derry. Life isn’t made any easier by the town psychopathic teen Bowers and his gang. The monstrous clown does his best to stop them by throwing things at the Loser Club which frighten them the most.

Ok so the acting and characterisation in this film is so amazing and unreal. You can tell that the actors really studied their characters and back stories well and got their characters down to the fine details like how IT’s eyes went out of focus as he got more and more hungry for Georgie. It just felt really well studied.

Shout out to Jack Dylan Grazer for pulling off the inhaler in the slideshow garage. It would be really easy for an inhaler to become an almost gag but just like with the earlier parts of the film before he found out about the gazebo placebos, that he was genuinely terrified and clinging to his medication.

One thing that I would have loved to see would be more of a focus on Hockstetter in Bower’s gang. I just think he had really sadistic aspects like with the DIY flame thrower and how he sent the other goon purposefully on the wrong path so that he could deal with Ben alone. I think Bower is a good character but Hockstetter is the most interesting of the pack.

Overall, it’s an awesome film. I’ve watched it around 4 or 5 times at this stage and found it terrifying the first time. I found it terrifying not particularly because of the clown but because of the people of Derry. There is so little concern for what happens as they have grown up in fear as children. The message of this story is that fear is one of the most dangerous to have ever existed. It can lead to control issues like with Eddie’s mom, passiveness when it comes to the woman who saw Georgie and violence who lived in fear of his father and made him violent to prove he was strong.

See ya around

Poster and film property of New Line Cinema, Lin Pictures, Vertigo Cinema and Katzsmith Productions.

The Funhouse Massacre- What I liked, disliked and what I wanted to be different

Obviously, this is gonna be full of spoilers.

The Funhouse Massacre is a 2015 horror film that tells the story of a bunch of escaped insane murderers from their secret asylum to take over a haunted house themed around their crimes.

What I liked:

·        Right so the best damn character was Gerardo hands down. This film pitches itself in the horror/ dark comedy genre and honestly, if Gerardo wasn’t there the comedy would be preetttyyy dire. Also, he was one of the most active characters in the entire film after Sheriff Kate. He was a really good mix of comedic genius and actually murdering the murderers like in the Animal murder scene when he blinded Animal with fucking cleaner of all things but proceeded to burn his face off. Chavarria did a really good portraying him.

·        Ok that plot twist though with Sheriff Kate being Mental Manny’s daughter was kinda amazing. It was really unexpected and made the revenge for her mother oh so sweet.

·        I also really enjoyed the back stories of the characters especially the Taxidermist. I thought he was such an interesting character in the way that he seemed almost half human. He gets really frustrated when they don’t display proper taxidermy tools and in his final standoff his final words are about how they didn’t give him proper tools. He clearly knew what he was doing was wrong, but he also seemed to not care about the crime but more about how they were then his projects and cared for them that way.

What I didn’t like:

·        Ok its petty but like their planning of how to kill the final four killers is kinda ridiculous.  Deputy Doyle basically tells Laurie to gather a group of civilians to help her but like WHAT CIVILIANS ARE GONNA RUN TOWARDS CRAZY KNIFE THROWING BITCH. They really didn’t think that through

·        In general, I just don’t think they should have had that many characters. Like dentist chair guy. Why did he need to be involved after the scene like he should’ve just died or bled out in the distance as Laurie runs to safety? Yes, it would’ve been shitty of her, but it just makes way more sense cuz they’re on the verge of death and definitely aren’t gonna make it.

What I would change:

·        I would have focussed more on the Taxidermist rather than Mr Suave because I just find his story more interesting and his character played on the more disturbing edge of insanity rather than just straight sociopath.

·        Jason should’ve survived rather than Morgan. It would have made it more interesting how him and Laurie interacted, I guess.

Anyway, that’s just my opinion. Overall, it wasn’t my favourite horror film but its better than a slap in the face with a wet fish.

See ya around