Arts Award Review: Amelie Hayward

THE PLAY THAT WENT WRONG

Actor:-           “Has anyone seen a dog, It's around here somewhere??”

“What's your name??”

Amelie:-        “My name is Amelie”

Actor:-           “What like the film??”

Amelie:-        “Yes”

Actor:-           “Can you bark like a dog??”

Amelie:-        “RUFF”

Actor:-           ”Now can you growl ‎like a dog??”

Amelie:-        “GRRRRR”

Actor:-           “Here, have some HAM that I found in the fridge” (as she passes me a piece of paper with HAM written on it)

From the moment my family and I got to our seats 20 minutes before the performance was supposed to start‎, the performance started and I was involved and asked by one of the actors who was walking around the audience, if they could not find the dog could I be the dog for the second half of the performance but I had to do an impression of a dog much to the amusement of my family and the audience in the Dress Circle.

So to The Play That Went Wrong

The critics describe this as……………………………

"I FEARED I WAS GOING TO HYPERVENTILATE" - Daily Mail

"ITS AS IF THE MOUSETRAP HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER BY MONTY PYTHON" - Whatsonstage.com

"RIDICULOUSLY FUNNY" - The Times

I would describe it as crazy, mad, jaw aching and belly busting.

The play is basically a story about an amateur dramatics society performing a murder mystery play that goes wrong in every imaginable way.

This is not a traditional play that you would normally be used to seeing in the West End and it is certainly not like any play that I have seen. Most plays have the actors and a start, middle and end and you sit there and take in the story. This play was acted out in such a way that you felt very involved and engaged in the whole experience from the beginning to the end. What I mean by this is that as an audience member I wanted the actors to succeed in performing their play even though all around them, from the set, the lighting, the back music, the actors themselves and the stage hands, the whole play was supposed to fail and when somebody succeeded with a line, a movement or the use of a prop, the whole audience would clap and cheer and we were acknowledged by the actors with a smile, a nod or a discreet wave which also made me feel that I knew them.

Everything that I have ever acted in I have rehearsed and rehearsed to try and get my performance as near as perfect as possible. So I suddenly thought how I would rehearse for something to give the appearance that I had not rehearsed at all. I think that this sort of acting either comes naturally or a lot of learning, either way I think it is very clever.

Out of all of the plays that I have seen in the West End of London this play I have enjoyed the most. My Dad called this play a good old fashioned comedy farce. This showed throughout the whole play from start to finish with wave after wave of people's shoulders bouncing up and down continuously, as did mine.

I have played parts at school, in drama classes, in playgrounds, now i can nearly say that for just a moment, I played a part in a West End play and this is the reason why I love drama.