Guest Blog: The Tiger Who Came To Tea rehearsal diary

So it’s the week before rehearsals start for our summer run at Cadogan Hall with The Tiger Who Came to Tea and time to start preparing. 

Even though this time round all of the company have worked on the show before we haven't all worked together as a team so I know that we won’t be wasting any moments of our precious rehearsal time. Being prepared as much as you can before rehearsals begin is essential.

For me that involves a good study of my script and notes. David Wood’s scripts are incredibly detailed and there are pages before ‘action’ begins that are a perfect guide to help get you back into the mood of our production. 

Detailed notes on character, how the set works and the feel of the piece serve as a great ‘jump start’ for our Tiger journey. Thankfully I have also made copious notes on Emma Clayton’s choreography that will help when we are putting our musical numbers back on their feet on Monday morning! 

On a practical note I am off to the hairdressers to get a fringe cut into my hair as the designer Susie Caulcutt and Angie Burns the wardrobe supervisor work very hard to make all the details of Judith Kerr’s charming illustrations come to life and for me playing Sophie that involves a fringe. As we only have a short rehearsal period it’s essential all this preparation takes place outside of rehearsals.

It’s now a week later and our first week of rehearsals has finished. What a productive and joyous week we have had. Coming back to a show like Tiger is like meeting up with a long lost family and this week we have been lucky enough to have the whole creative team in at one point or another. There’s been wardrobe fittings with Susie and Angie. Peter Pontzen our musical director was in to check the musical numbers were in tip top shape and we even had a visit from Scott Penrose the president of the magic circle who also happens to be the magic consultant for our show. 

We had an afternoon learning from the master how to execute the magic to the best of our ability. All these details go toward making the show run like clockwork and it’s the meticulous attention to detail on this show that makes it the success it has and continues to be. While we still have a week to go and a lot of work to do I think we all leave our first week feeling we have achieved a lot and looking forward to the week ahead and our fast approaching opening at Cadogan Hall. 

Abbey Norman

The Tiger Who Came to Tea has now opened at Cadogan Hall and will play a limited run to Sunday 4th September 2016. Please visit www.thetigerwhocametotealive.com for further information and tickets.