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Arriving
at the Royal Concert Hall at 5.30pm we caught a glimpse of the professionals
at work before being taught, in broken English, what we were to
do. Then the long wait began.
6.45pm The orchestra
is warming up in the pit. Dan looks a bit worried when he sees the
size of the hall.
7 pm Graeme
briefs us on the plot of Aida, saying it is a poignant, tragic story
set in Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs.
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| Steadying
the nerves! |
The Russian
in charge tells to come back in a half-hour and to report to dressing
room 21. We will be soldiers.
7.15 Dan has
a brandy to calm his nerves in a pub across the road. We discuss
tactics and hope someone who speaks English will be around to help
us.
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| Dare you
enter Room 21? |
7.30 We arrive
at Dressing Room 21 and meet our dresser, a Moldavian lady called
Elvira. She is a no-nonsense woman who makes sure we are strapped
into our white boots and calf-length Egyptian cheesecloth uniforms.
There is only one size of boot -- 36 -- so Graeme has a bit of a
problem getting his to fit.
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| Nigel is
well and truly stitched up by Lady Elvira |
Nigel has a
special fitting with Elvira.
8pm Our scene
is in Act Two. We wait nervously in the hall with the other extras.
A strong smell of Russian cigarettes lingers in the air. There are
only nine of us.
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| How much
would you pay for this slave? |
We chat with
an extra who is plastered with a muddy brown make-up and wears a
black wig. He is a slave.
Unfortunately
he's told he hasn't put enough make-up on and is dragged back into
room 21 to be well and truly covered.
See the Online
team's transformation into
soldiers.
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