And so the idea of a ‘U3A Cinderella’ was born. I’ve always wanted to be in a pantomime he said; and this is how he came to play Buttons on Dec 5th 2006 at The Metropolitan Police Club Watford.
The script was written by the WU3A Creative Writers Workshop tailored very much to our U3A, "Oh yes it was!” Rehearsals began in August, an early start imperative as on any given date, highly dedicated, committed cast members were travelling the world or on Grandparent duty. In fact the first full cast gathering was only a week before the performance. Some costumes were hired but many were made by members of the Needlecraft group. ‘Techy’ Anoraks from the science and computer groups provided back projection scenery, lights and sound while the choir sang the songs, our very own jazz man played the accompaniments and some members of the 'Better Photo Group’ took the pictures. The dress rehearsal was performed to the residents in a local sheltered home where we had done our rehearsing and they loved every minute, really proving a super audience. It ‘wobbled’ a bit on the day; it was performed at the December monthly meeting, but the audience that morning laughed and sang and yelled themselves hoarse “Oh yes they did!” and enjoyed themselves almost as much as the cast did. Our directors final ‘coup’ was to tell us to cue our prompter with “Oh dear a senior moment I fear” whenever we needed a prompt. This in its self brought the house down on the several occasions when it was used. We had a tremendous lot of fun from the very beginning and are considering another ‘go’ next year.
Margaret Thompson Watford U3A Newsletter/website editor.
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The pictures below are by Gerry Adams and Ian Charteris for the Watford & District U3A.
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