Patchwork Theatre triumph again

- Ailsa Tudhope -

The Wizard of Oz” and Patchwork Theatre’s Story-telling were great fun and much appreciated during the Prince Albert Town and Olive Festival. Here are some comments from Patchworkers and a member of their audience:

Thank you to everyone who came to our production of “The Wizard of Oz”. We had a great response from our audiences and truly enjoyed performing for you. The cast worked superbly together and nothing was a chore. The singing was enthusiastic and the shows noisy and colourful. Congratulations to all the cast! Tracy Swanepoel – the director.

I liked being part of “The Wizard of Oz” very much. I think the audiences found it very amusing. We had a lot of fun doing it and lots of fun laughing at our mistakes. We stood out well in the Saturday morning Parade and enjoyed singing in the bakkie. Story-telling is great, especially playing our parts. Our stories were exciting and funny, and dressing up is always special. Caleb – the Straw Man.

It was a good experience for us and we learnt a lot. We were quite astonished by our first Wizard of Oz performance because we had quite a large audience. It went well, although there were a few mistakes. Storytelling was hilarious for the audience and us because we hadn’t really practised enough. We had a great time acting and can’t wait until the next show. Thanks to Tracy Swanepoel who directed both productions and Dessie who baked all the cupcakes enjoyed by cast and audience. Joshua – the Tin Man.

It was great fun working together. Although we weren’t word perfect, we made up for our mishaps by inventing on-stage additions to the script. I think that most of the credit goes to Tracy who cleaned the hall after productions, sorted out props, fixed the posters and signs and was doorman cum prompt cum applause-starter. Thanks too to Dessie for baking the cup cakes and the Modra family for making our costumes; if you were at any of the performances you would have seen that they were very well made, barring a few design defects, especially the Lion’s tail. Matthew – the (sometimes tail-less) Lion.

As Prince Alberters we are not known for our modesty when it comes to our village, and rightly so, for we have much of which to be proud, not least, The Patchwork Theatre.

If you take delight in children being children; enjoying themselves; sharing their enjoyment with fun, laughter and an enormous amount of exuberant energy, you would have been as hugely entertained by “The Wizard of Oz,” as was I and every other member of the audience. On top of much ad-libbing, not so quiet prompting and some really delightful ‘throw away’ lines, they sang, and oh dear, can they sing?

Over the Rainbow had many of us sitting entranced, blinking through moist eyes and with mouths full of cup cake which could not get past the lumps in our throats. Thank you Patchworkers, I look forward to your next production! Andrew Tudhope – fan club member.