Rapunzel rehearsals get underway

Written by Cath Moyse - Mon 30th Oct 2023

Sunday's rehearsal was at a new venue for LVP - Tesco's Community Space. Once we'd negotiated the hoards (the entire population of Bicester appeared to be either shopping in Tesco or trying to drive past it) we found ourselves in a very nice room at the back of the store.

The rehearsal started with a sweet duet sung by Rapunzel and her love interest Bobby, both dreaming of escaping from the tower where Rapunzel has been trapped for 18 years.

Whilst the young love birds were singing, the wardrobe team took the opportunity to capture the vital statistics of the other actors, just in case anyone's waist size had increased since last year. Can you hazard a guess at Dame Penny's bra size? The answer for those of you who are interested is 46GG. Dame Penny alone has 5 costumes, so with a cast of over 40 there is a formidable number of costumes for the sewing team to create.

The next rehearsal was a song featuring several cast members fantasising about what career they might have chosen if life had turned out differently. This is a fast-paced routine with each actor having to interact with the actors either side of them in a precisely coordinated manner. This was hilarious when they got it right, and even funnier when they didn't.

The final scene for this rehearsal involved the royal party being chased around the stage by a (not really scary, in fact quite cuddly) wolf. This scene features "mild pantomime peril" and plenty of opportunities for the audience to shout "It's behind you!".

Look out for my next blog which will be giving an insight into how the wardrobe team design and create all those costumes.