Image – Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson in rehearsal for L’enfant et les sortilèges
By Honor Halford MacLeod (age 15) – Samling Academy Opera participant.
Our morning started at the early hour of 7:30 as we prepared to take the bus as a cast from Saltburn to Sage Gateshead. Our fatigue however was banished straight away as we were shown to our dressing rooms which was extremely exciting.
Our focus for the day was getting used to the new performance space, and this we really enjoyed doing. It was especially important that the dancing singers (Alex!) got used to the new size of the stage. We realised how different Sage is from Saltburn when our cellist Nick was enthusiastically bowing and he hit the balcony roof! We felt very VIP with all the excitement of mag cards and new doors to enter through.
We ran the whole opera but the whole cast was delighted to see Rowan’s amazing hair beautifully crafted by Claire Westone. Claire’s skills also came into the light with the embellishment of Harriet’s costume. I’m not sure that she ever anticipated having to sew cutlery onto a dress in her career.
Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the day was running the opera with the new and exciting lighting. It really helped us imagine what it will be like on the night. A highlight for me was watching Rowan’s scene where Luke is playing the flute (but I don’t want to spoil it for the audience too much…)
We got the bus back to Saltburn and reconvened an hour later in Alessi’s – Saltburn’s hub of Italian delicacy. It was a lovely social occasion, paired with a suitable and well deserved early night.