Mama Mia - Theatretrain Style

As I have mentioned before, my daughters have long been involved with the Wrexham branch of Theatretrain, with my youngest still being a very active (and enthusiastic) member of the school.  This week saw the children in the 6 - 9 and 9 - 12 age groups present a short version of Mama Mia, at Ysgol Morgan Llwyd, as an end of term show for parents and family.  Having been lucky enough to have been allowed to photograph one of their productions at The Forum Theatre, Chester, for one of my uni modules , I took along the camera, hoping to add to my experience, and once again, capture these very young and talented  children as they entertained us.  It was a simple performance, with the children narrating the sequence of events from the show, in between performing some of the numbers . Once again, so impressed by how hard these kids work, and by how much they obviously enjoy it !  The photographs I took are featured on the Theatretrain Wrexham, Chester and Mold face book page, and here are just a couple of examples .

Big thank you to all the children and teachers at Theatretrain - that was a really enjoyable show :)

Store - the most fun I've had in a shopping centre!

Part 2

The performances during days 2 and 3 just got funnier and funnier . . .

Rudolph Nureyev - copy

Running Bread Man - this was another popular choice - and no, Gregs weren't in on the act, and didn't have a clue what to make of it!

More running Bread Man

What was really nice about days 3 and 4, for me, was that some people came into the shop having seen some of the previous days photographs, and were not only complimentary, but actually wanting copies.  It was great to meet people, like Estelle and Jo, from the Chester Contemporary Artists Face book group and to have that throw up the chance of perhaps some collaborative work in the future.  I also met Louise, who makes the most incredible felt toys, The Felt Mistress , and her partner Jonathan - great to touch base with some fantastically creative people. I also met Brenda, who is involved in Saith Seren, a music venue in Wrexham, and again, the potential to gain more experience of photographing events through collaboration was raised as a possibility. I owe thanks to all of those who expressed an interest in involving me in their future projects.

The reactions of the people coming into the shop was again, one of the most  fun parts for me - without exception, they left having thoroughly enjoyed themselves - but once again, dreadful weather, on day 3, with non-stop rain, had really affected the number of people who turned up.

Day 4 saw all that change - word of mouth, and no rain, plus the number of weekend shoppers, turned this into an absolutely manic day.

 

Some people were coming in, and just buying performance after performance, as well as just hanging out there to enjoy other peoples purchases.

I took so many images, that in the end, for the purpose of the blog, I have decided to show them in the form of slideshows.

The first is just a compilation of images from day 4, which I hope shows not only how much fun it was, but also, how popular -

And the next is a compilation of photographs from several performances of 'Good Bye'

At the end of 4 days, I was exhausted, but absolutely delighted and thrilled with the experience.  I found I could work under a certain amount of pressure - even when I was often unsure of what was coming next, lol - and that I was able to do as I had been asked, and edit and post the images from each day within 24 hours of the photographs being taken, although it meant me working 10 -12 hour days.  It was fantastic to work as part of a 'team' for an event like this, and an absolute delight to meet so many lovely people, developing contacts and increasing the chance of more work and experience in the future.

Many thanks to all involved, including the lovely audiences and public - and if David and Michikazu ever come this way again, please make the effort to go see them - I promise, you won't be sorry !