After months of preparation Knights Templars production of Fiddler on the Roof is only a week away.
The tension at rehearsals is palpable, and the reality of how close the performances are is made clear by the increasing stress levels of are dedicated director Mr. Sills. His dedication reflects the cast's drive to give a quality performance, that I'm sure the audience will enjoy. We hope that you will come and support the show because all the team involved have worked extremely hard to deliver a moving and compelling production.
I’m Sasha Mills and I have a minor part in the play’s chorus, as one of the daughters in the village Anatevka, where a large part of Fiddler on the Roof is set. The process of creating Fiddler on the Roof has been something that everyone has thoroughly enjoyed. It has been filled with memorable moments, my personal favourite being when, during a rendition of The Dream, an ominous ripping noise resounded through the hall and we turned to see that Joe Nelson’s (Tevye, Lazar Wolf) trousers had split clean in half as he had bent over. For me, being a part of Fiddler on the Roof has been a great experience, and has been something that I know I will remember for a long time.
Hi, I’m Ben Buky and I play Mendel, the Rabbi’s son. It’s the largest role I’ve had in a KTS school production and I struggled at first with the extra lines and responsibility. However, as rehearsals draw to an end and the opening night nears I can look back at rehearsals and remember the fond memories I will take away from them.
Rehearsals are split between after school acting rehearsals and lunchtime singing rehearsals. Before Christmas the acting rehearsals were mainly blocking (rehearsing stage positions), delivering lines and understanding your character. After Christmas, the intensity increased as scripts were removed and suddenly it started to feel much more serious.
Now most rehearsals start with a singing warm up from Ms Dawson and then two hours of running through Act 1 or 2. There are always mistakes that Mr Sills corrects but there are also some moments when you think, “Yes, that is fantastic". I’m glad to say that increasingly the second option is more common but it wasn’t always that way.
In our first rehearsal after Christmas Mr Sills came in expecting everyone to have learnt their lines over the holidays and so we had until the 'bar scene'. In this scene the Innkeeper obviously has many lines but the boy who is playing him had not learnt his so he tried to sneak a script on stage and hide it behind his bar. Mr Sills noticed this and asked him to remove it but all he did was place it on the floor. He then started to read from the floor so Mr Sills went up onto the stage, picked up the script and threw it to the back of the main hall. Leaving the poor lad with nothing to say but, “Ummm” and “Can you read out my next line please.” We all burst out laughing as he was left struggling but there was an important message being displayed, we now knew that rehearsals were getting serious.
I have never enjoyed singing (people always tell me I can’t sing) and it makes me very nervous and self-conscious whenever I have to sing. I have never been able to match pitch or sing anything in tune so when I found out I had a solo I was just as much shocked as scared. Thanks to Ms Dawson, however, my confidence in singing has grown and I think that my solo is just about in tune.
At first I tried to avoid singing it, in rehearsals I would say the lines instead of singing them but after a while Ms Dawson did a one-on-one lesson with me and I started to learn the tune. However, my confidence was still too low to sing in front of other people and I couldn’t imagine doing it with an orchestra or in front of 200 people. She slowly built up my “audience” though and last Sunday I sang it for the first time in front of the whole cast and with the orchestra.
I would like to thank Ms Dawson for helping me learn to sing (but I still don’t think I can) and in a strange kind of way I am looking forward to performing it on Tuesday night because I am really proud of how I have improved.
A lot of hard work has gone into the performance so we would love it if you bought a ticket and came along to watch. Tickets are £5 for concessions and £8 for adults, they are on sale in the KTS canteen or you can email DramaBoxOffice@ktemplar.herts.sch.uk to reserve tickets. Friday and Wednesday nights are sold out but tickets are still available for Tuesday 26th and Thursday 29th January. We hope you enjoy the show - it’ll be a night to remember!