Through my many years of Sherfield, I have worked on many productions as a performer, but recently I undertook costuming for the whole production of ‘School of Rock’. While many items were able to be purchased, I spent in excess of 100 hours creating the iconic school uniforms.

Costumes likes and dislikes

While I was in the process of sorting out costumes, I found that what I liked most was the development of the sewing of the costumes and designing what I wanted the end product to be. It helped to practice my techniques of sewing, especially since I have not made a uniform or a pair of shorts before. The issues that came out of it was the measuring stage, not having students doing as I asked as well as having to personally talk to them to retrieve them which I found personally terrifying. A lot about the issues of the students not doing as I asked also includes the screaming backstage and constantly getting asked about where someone’s costume is instead of trying to look for it to begin with, as they all should have their names on it. This would also include after they’re finished, leaving the dressing rooms messy and leaving their costumes lying around and being disrespectful of their costumes for me to hang them back up afterwards at the end of the day. All of the effort, however, was worth it when seeing how the costumes themselves had finished and how they looked on stage as well as how they fit the actors nicely.

Performances likes and dislikes

I’ve been performing since I was a little more than a toddler in Sunday School nativities, school productions, Stagecoach and drama club. Having spent many years in music, singing and dance lessons, I have grown to be fond of it and the whole performative aspect of drama. For me personally, I had difficulties trying to determine my priorities as to where I should be attending music lessons or rehearsals. I found it also difficult to motivate myself to be enthusiastic about rehearsals particularly as I didn’t belong to any established friendship groups that went. I also would have hard times with my memory to remember lines and the occasional dance move, also finding it difficult to rely on others to help teach me the dance moves that I had missed. It also takes away my confidence when I am yelled at, particularly when I don’t think it’s my fault (Loud people scare me). However, one of my favourite parts about performing would be triggering positive reactions from an audience, e.g. laughs.

In conclusion, I enjoy undertaking character roles and getting a solo- although I prefer when there are others on stage with me. Overall, I still love performing, but doing costumes was a nice change, as I do like creating and designing.

Taliesin Murray

The productions that the Sherfield Drama and Music departments put on each year offer a rewarding and exciting experience open to all students in the senior school. When I arrived at Sherfield in 2015 I couldn’t wait to take part in the production of “Our House”. I was a part of a committed and passionate ensemble that only fueled my love for the subject.

It was until I was in year 10 when I got my first lead role, all the previous years of hard work had paid off and I was successful enough in the auditions to land the part of Stanley Yelnats from “Holes”. It was really tough, all the rehearsals, but I didn’t mind because it’s something I love doing. I was able to work on many new vocal skills and learn about Brechtian theatre.

Then the next year I was lucky enough to get the part of the Headmistress in “School of Rock”, Rosalie Mullins. This was a completely different role to Stanley and it was so much fun, but juggling rehearsals and line learning with lessons, homework and revision for GCSE’s was very hard, however, I didn’t even notice it much because I was constantly surrounded by friends and a great team of people working to create a fabulous show.

Being a part of Sherfield School productions has been one of the highlights of my time at Sherfield, dare I say it’s my favourite!

Bonnie Allen

Day 1

Today was incredible! I feel so inspired and motivated to find myself as an actor, and I feel as if I have really homed in on my own identity and accepting who I am.

We started off with a company welcome where we met all of the course directors and assistants and just went over housekeeping rules. I knew one of the girls on the call from Annie which was nice. We aren't in the same bubble group, but it was still nice to see her! I was nervous before this call, as I am still quite inhibited and not greatly confident in my acting. But looking back now, I do feel as though I have found some more confidence.

After this session, we went into our bubble groups and I met the 15 other people in my group. They were all incredibly lovely, and within 1 hour I felt so much more confident with them and the creatives I were working with. Rebecca (course director) and Emilia (course assistant) and so friendly and have made me feel welcome and ready to explore theatre with them. We went round saying our names and our pronouns, which is something NYT really have a focus on. We then did some warmup games, and some movement to just loosen ourselves up and get to know one another. We then were asked to write down what we wanted to take away from this week, and I had a really great time thinking about this thoroughly, and now these goals i want to achieve as the week goes on.

We then had a short break and joined a Zoom room with Group 1. In this lesson, we talked about identity. This session was amazing! I really found myself opening up to who I am and thinking deeply about what identity is, and how it varies for everyone. We did these anonymous Jam-boards (Inter sectional Equality Training) which I loved reading, as it made me realise that people are curious about their identity, and although I am certain of who I am, it did make me really think hard as to if my choices I have made are true to myself and my wants. Every question I answered I really thought hard about, and I didn't lie to myself, as i really did want to define who i am, so i can take y experiences into a character. I then spoke publicly about my scoliosis, and how much I have thought about it, whether to mention or hide, how to use it without pulling the guilty card. The reception was amazing, and I felt so welcome to share, and felt safe in the community.

We then continued with this group for a little longer, then we went back into our smaller groups to discuss the session and draw up a course contract, where we laid out some rules in breakout rooms, and then Emilia typed up what we said. Tomorrow we will sign the contract, so we agree with the rules.

After a break, we then had a quiz night with Emilia and the morning group for course 6. They were all so incredibly lovely, and there are 2 other Ruby’s: Ruby R and another Ruby S :-). The quiz was MT knowledge and I did fairly good aha. We then played busy bees, had a disco, and Emilia left us kids to chat and get each other’s numbers. People asked if anyone had been in shows and I told them about Annie - everyone was so supportive, as I hate telling people as i feel as though I am bragging. We have a massive Whats App group aha!

Overall, and INCREDIBLE DAYYYY. I wish we were there in person.

Day 2

Today was another fabulous day!!

We started off with a warmup at 8:30. It was focused on breathing, yoga and waking up our body. I really enjoyed it, and the hour flew by. Emilia was an amazing teacher, and I really did feel in touch with my body and extremely energised afterwards.

Our first main session was called 'Getting out of our heads as actors'. We focused on the principal of improvisation, and how to feel comfortable with such a skill so many feel uncomfortable with. I started off feeling extremely nervous, as improv has never been a strong suit for me. Before looking at the exercises, we looked at the theme for our devising piece, which we are starting tomorrow. The stimulus was the word NOW. Everyone had to answer 4 questions on the words and anonymously add our thoughts to a Jam-board. It was so interesting to see other thoughts on the word, and really got my brain thinking about what the word meant and its fundamentals, for me and for others as well. After this, we moved back to improvisation and did lots of fabulous exercises. It started with creating a rap whereby you had to rhyme with the person before. Not going to lie, I was awful at this! I found it hard to let loose and think on the spot. It got easier after this however, and as more exercises progress, I improved. We then moved on to the alphabet game, whereby you think of a name, occupation, and country on the spot. I was okay at this game aha!

The three main tips I had to take away from the session is:

· make your acting partner look good, not necessarily the character

· accept, build, and LISTEN

· be spontaneous, give up the future

In Session 2, we continued with the exercises, and as the session was called, we had 'Freedom to Play'. We played loads of amazing games and showed the group, reflecting after each one, and how they felt with the stimulus and scene we were doing. I felt happy and safe to share in the group and did so many times and was happy to reflect on my thoughts on myself and others.

The games were: fortunately/unfortunately, gift giving, Lets and..., 3 words only

We then got set homework which we have to complete before tomorrow's session.

Finally, our evening session was a voice masterclass with Marcia Carr. Wow, what an incredible woman! she was so inspiring, and so passionate about her craft. I found her session a real challenge, and has made me so aware of my voice, and how to use t to its full potential in ways I have never even thought of.

Her 5 golden rules were:

· Relaxation - loosening tension in the body

· Breath - length of breath needed for the phrase

· Resonance - where in your body do you want the sound to come from (chest, throat area, nasal, head)

· Articulation - how am i playing the sounds

· Play

Her biggest tip was to graffiti the walls with your voice. It needs to have colour, definition, volume, and attack.

Overall, another sensational day, I so wish I were there in person. I am enjoying it sooooo much!

The Auditions

I auditioned for Annie, the Musical, in March 2017. I got an audition through my agent, a lady who represents me. I went into a room with about 30 other girls, and we all had to sing a song of our choice. I sang ‘How Far I’ll Go’ from Moana. We had to listen to everyone else sing too which was really intimidating!

After the first round, we got an email saying that I had made it to the recall stages for the role of Annie. I was so shocked, as I hadn’t really expected to be auditioning for an orphan, let alone the lead role. The casting team were looking for 3 groups of children, and 3 girls for each role (e.g, 3 Annies, 3 Mollies) because we were too young to perform every show. Before my audition, I had to prepare 2 scripts and 3 songs: Maybe, Tomorrow and Hard Knock Life. On the audition day, we learnt the dance to Hard Knock Life and had to perform in smaller groups, which was scary! After that, we went round one by one, singing the final verse of Tomorrow, and one of the scripts we had been given. We were then told we would be emailed if we were invited to the final round of auditions.

That night, I got an email saying I had made it to the final round! For Annie! It was super exciting! On the day I was extremely nervous, as Annie’s who had played the role previously in the UK Tour were also back to audition for the West End production. All my auditions went really well. We were split into groups at first with the other orphans and had to perform the opening scene. All the girls up for Annie then stayed behind and sang all the songs and did all the scripts one more time. And then we were finished. We would find out by email whether we got the part!!!

And that is what we all thought. However, my mum received an email the next day saying that I had another recall at the producer’s office. When I got there, however, there were only 2 other girls there. And they were casting 3 Annie’s….

Then the assistant director came in and told us we had got the part! I almost cried on the spot! The only reason we were here was to perform for the producers! I was so so so excited!!

The Project

Before the start of rehearsals, the director wanted us to work on a project to get to know our characters better. We had to each create a poster about our characters, and answer questions about them. I really enjoyed this, and still have my poster to date. I even put half a silver locket on it! 😊

Rehearsals

3 weeks after getting the part, rehearsals started. For the first week, it was only the children who were rehearsing, as the creative team wanted to work on our big dance numbers and scenes. On our first day, we met each other and the creative team, and our chaperones, who would be taking care of us throughout our time in Annie. Everyone was super nice, and the creative team were amazed by all of our projects.

At the start of the process, we were split into 3 teams: Rockefeller, Madison and Lexington. These are all places or landmarks in NYC, where Annie is set. The creative team were looking at heights and chemistry between actors. These teams would then share the shows each week, and only one team could perform on the opening, closing and press nights, which everyone wanted to do, as they are extremely exciting!

Each team then took turns to work on the main space with the creatives. You could tell that there was some competition and tension in the room, as naturally, everyone wanted to stand out! I was in Team Rockefeller, and one of my most precious memories of my time in Annie was when we performed Hard Knock Life in rehearsals. We were all so nervous, and the director was watching, wondering which team he would pick for the opening and press nights! All of us knew how much we wanted this, and I just remember us all going for it so much! And we all got a massive cheer at the end. Our team never changed after that - they knew that chemistry between everyone in our team was insane! And the best thing is, we are all friends now!

After that first week, the adults joined us in rehearsals. We met our leading lady, Miranda Hart, who played Miss Hannigan, and all the Annies got to know Daddy Warbucks really well, who was played by Alex Bourne. On that day, the 3 Annies had a press shoot and 2 interviews, talking about the show and working with Miranda Hart. It was unlike anything I had done before, and seeing myself on the newspaper cover that evening was insane!

All the rehearsals went so well, and working with a professional adult vcast was such a wonderful experience. I learnt so much from them, and watching how they worked was really interesting! I also remember performing Tomorrow for the first time in front of the whole adult cast! I felt sick. I was so nervous! But everyone gave me a massive cheer at the end, which was so nice, and a relief it had gone well!

One of the biggest challenges working in Annie was working with Sandy. Sandy is a real dog! Her name was Amber, and she was the cutest thing ever! All 3 Annies had to have training sessions with her, to get her to trust and love us. I fed her lots of treats! I was nervous at first, working with a dog, as I didn't want to hurt her, and vice versa. But,as time went on,I got so much more comfortable. I cannot say there weren’t moments where it was an epic fail, live on stage! But more of that later….

Rehearsals were one of my favourite parts of being in Annie. Trying on costumes, wigs, meeting cast, blocking numbers was all so riveting and exciting, and I remember being so tired every day after working for 8 hours! Never underestimate how fun rehearsals are!

Tonight at the London Palladium

One day at rehearsal, the director wanted to speak to me. He took me into another room with the musical director, and told me about this TV opportunity he wanted me to sing at. Tonight at the London Palladium, hosted by Bradley Walsh. He wanted me to sing Tomorrow, with Amber, live on TV!!!!! I was so excited!!! But extremely nervous! I had about a week to rehearse the song and the blocking. I think the most daunting thing about it was that I hadn’t even done one show before the performance. My dad came to watch me, and he always tells me how scared he was, seeing 2000 people queuing up, all to come and watch the show and me. The performance went fabulously, and Bradley Walsh was one of the nicest people I have ever met! Watching it on TV 2 weeks later was crazy! I was beside myself with excitement!

The whole experience was so exhilarating, I am so grateful I got picked to do it!

What teams?

On the weekend before we went into tech rehearsals in the theatre, the kids teams and dates were all confirmed. My team had the opening and press night! I was so so so happy! I think I cried! It was such an honour to be picked for 2 of the most important shows in a theatre’s life in a theatre!

Tech

Tech rehearsals are usually a week long, and this is when the show is taken to the theatre, and all of the lighting, set and sound are experimented with and blocked. It was a very slow process, and involved working for about 10 seconds, and every time a character moved around the stage, we had to stop so lighting could spotlight us. My team, Rockefeller, were the kids that did tech, and the other 2 teams got to watch and take notes, as it was crucial for them to know the space. Tech was extremely tiring, as all you wanted to do was run the number, and it was sometimes frustrating having to stop. All the adult actors agree that it is one of the toughest processes in being part of a show. It is taxing on both time and energy. But once again, I loved doing it, as I now know what to expect later in life.

Dress Rehearsal

The show opened on May 23rd 2017 at 7:30. Therefore, the evening before, and aftennon of the first preview, we had a dress rehearsal, when you run the whole show in costume. This is key in a rehearsal process, as there are quite a lot of quick changes in Annie. Me and Daddy Warbucks had a 30-second quick change into party outfits,which was nervous and stressful in dress! Luckily, it all went ok, but practice is key, as we would not have wanted to mess it up in the actual show.

I loved doing dress rehearsal - it was the first time running the show on the Piccadilly Stage! How exciting!! :-)))

Being in a West End theatre

Annie was at the Piccadilly Theatre in London’s West End. I was beside myself with excitement! The theatre was huge (1200 seats) and I loved being backstage! The orphans all shared a dressing room right next door to the stage! We all had our own chairs, where we stored our stuff, and was sort of a common room. The second half of the room was mainly for the chaperones, and also, for Annie, when she was getting changed and getting her wig done. I could have stayed in my dressing room the whole time, but I wanted to be with my friends.

The theatre had 3 floors, all full of dressing rooms! At the stage door, we all had these signs in which we had to mark ourselves in or out of the building which was great fun!

FIRST PREVIEW (OPENING NIGHT)!!!

For opening night, I was so nervous! I felt so much pressure to be the best I could be, and I did not want to let myself or the show down. Before the show, the energy backstage was just electric!!

Annie enters 30 seconds after the show starts. I remember hearing the orphans onstage before I went on, and I was taking deep breaths, trying to calm myself down.

As soon as I was onstage, it eased a little. As the show progressed, I found myself relaxing into it. I was so nervous for Tomorrow, as that is THE song, and I didn't want to mess it up.

The whole show flew by, and taking those bows for the first time almost made me burst into tears. All of that hard work and energy had finally paid off, and I cannot tell you how wonderful I felt standing up there, with all those people clapping at me.

My mum and dad had come to see me, and I could see my mums eyes were a bit glassy!

The Stage Door was incredible. There were so many people who wanted to see me, take photos, and want me to sign their programmes. I felt like a celebrity. Lots of people didn't recognise me, however, because of my wig. I went from a ginger to a brunette, and people actually thought i was lying when i said i was Annie.

PRESS NIGHT #1

Press Night is when theatre critics and celebrities come to watch the show, and the critics write reviews and rate the show with stars. It is also the night the show officially ‘opens’, as previews are where the creative team are allowed to change major things in the show, but after opening, this cannot happen. The other kid teams were also there to watch. The pressure was really on!

I had only performed 6 shows before Press Night, so I was nervous. I got to walk the red carpet! Before the show, whilst everyone was getting ready, i had to put on my press night dress, and meet the other 2 Annies outside of the theatre for photos and interviews. I felt like a celebrity again.

The audience that night were electric. The energy was through the roof, both onstage and in the auditorium. The show went fabulously, and the bows were roaring!!!

After the show, I experienced my first ever press night party. We went to a restaurant in London, which was privately hired for the Annie crew and cast, and we all went to celebrate our success. All the celebrities came too, and I got photos with people like Graham Norton and Tom Ellis! My mum and dad were with me, and I felt so grown up, talking to all these adults and celebrities.

The party was wonderful, and I wore a beautiful red dress with sparkles on, and just had a ball of the time. There is no exaggeration when I say it is one of the best nights of my life!!

The Run

My run in Annie West End was from May 2017-February 2018. During that time, I grew so much as a person and a performer. It was such an education to be in a West End show, unlike anything I have ever done before.

The children’s schedule worked with 3 days on, 7 days off, as it all had to be shared out between teams. You would either do:

2 show Saturday, Sunday matinee and Monday evening

Or

Wednesday evening, 2 show Thursday, Friday evening

Tuesday was a day off for everyone, often called ‘dark day’ in the theatre, which the producers and theatre decided for Annie.

Trying to balance school and performing was a challenge, but also such a buzz. I did have to miss school once every 3 weeks, on Thursday, and often was tired, as I had such late nights. But the adrenaline got me through it. There was no better feeling than being on that stage, walking around the West End as a leading lady at such a young age.

One of my favorite experiences was covering for the other Annies. Whenever one of us was sick, one of the others would have to take her place. This meant that we got to perform with the other child teams, as do more shows! I covered 11 times in total, which is quite a lot for a run! It was always really exciting, and I remember being at school once, and a teacher telling me I had to go to the office, as my mum was here to pick me up and take me to London for a show to cover for another Annie.

Being in a long running west end show was always so exhilarating. I always loved coming back to normality after 4 shows, and then going back to the stage again about a week later. There was no better feeling for me, and I loved being reunited with the cast, crew and chaperones.

It was always fun when I had different people watching me in the audience. My old school came one night, and there was some chaos. One of the male cast members accidentally tripped up another male cast member, who was wheeling me on a trolley, so we both fell over. I was singing at the time, and it was hard to carry on - everyone in the audience thought it was real! That was another highlight - that every show was different and unique!

Performances Live

Throughout the West End run, I had lots of really cool opportunities;

Tonight at the London Palladium

Interviews with the BBC, Good Morning Britain and Girl Talk magazine

Live stream performance with Theatre Lounge Live - singing Tomorrow and an interview

Royal Variety Performance 2017 - meeting Prince William and Kate

There were so many fabulous opportunities through Annie that have been unmatched in my career so far. I loved it so much!

After the first press night, we had 2 more, due to cast changes, with 2 new Miss Hannigans (Craig Revel Horwood and Meera Syal). That was another opportunity to be in newspapers, and know what people thought of the show.The feedback and reviews were incredible, and I was so amazed by the love and support I was getting in the role.

Struggles in the Run

It was inevitable that there would be struggles throughout the run, and there were. Illness was always a struggle, as I hated missing shows, and felt so left out (I missed 5 in total). Also, when I felt a show did not go very well, it was heartbreaking, and I just wanted to redo it.

One of the things I distinctly remember, and have learned from was one particular night, when doubt got the better of me. My singing teacher, and all her students were coming to watch me. The nerves were extremely high, and for some reason, I became completely rigid, and did not want to perform. I felt sick and faint and found it a little difficult to breathe. My cover went on that night. As soon as my mum picked me up, I felt awful - all of these people had come to watch me and I felt like I had let them down. Being in a show wasn't all glorious all the time, and self-confidence is something every actor struggles with.

It took me a lot of hard work to reach the performance I finished with - I got tonnes of corrections, notes every show, people online perhaps criticising. But I learnt to be resilient to what others thought, took corrections well, and learned to have faith in myself.

Working with and adult cast

The adult cast in Annie had about 25 members. It was fabulous working with such a talented group. Being Annie meant I got to work with almost all of them on stage which was so cool! They respected me, and treated me like an adult, which I really enjoyed. They also helped me to step up to their level. They were technically not allowed to give kids notes, but some did, and I never minded, as I liked and valued their opinion. I learnt so much about the different terms in the theatre (like a swing, 1st and 2nd covers etc.) and they were always happy to explain things to the kids who were interested. I had a friendship with every adult cast member, and I really think it helped me to have a matre approach to being in a professional production.

Renewal and a new project…

In November 2017, it was announced the show would have a short 1-month extension into February. This was very nerve-wracking, as of course, I wanted to be renewed, and wanted to stay with my team, as we were all so close. I came home from school one day, and my mum actually tricked me by saying I had not been renewed (lol). It was not funny at the time, but a few seconds later she made up for it by telling me the most exciting news.

Annie was having a production in Toronto, Canada, and they wanted to take me to play Annie over there. I was stunned! It was soooo incredible! I had a million questions, but I did not get much information that day, which was frustrating. It was such an exciting prospect!

There were 2 new annies, as I was the only one renewed, and 5 new orphans. Unfortunately, my team was split up a bit, and it was so sad not performing the last month together. My new team was just as fabulous too!

Closing in the West End

Closing in the West End was bittersweet - I was so excited for my new journey in Toronto (although I had to keep it a secret from everyone else), but the West End production was so fabulous, and I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to the best 9 months of my life! The energy was huge in the last week, and our closing party involved lots of tears. I will never ever forget the amazing memories from the West End!

The first rehearsal

After the short month break, I had a first rehearsal with the new Miss Hannigan for Toronto… Lesley Nicol (Miss Patmore in Downton Abbey!). I was so excited! I also found out who the other Annie was that was coming to Toronto. Unfortunately, from the 3 West End Annies, the show only took 2. Me and another girl, Isobel, were chosen and were both so excited to be going abroad!

In the first rehearsal, Isobel and I met Lesley, the new Grace and Rooster, and rehearsed some scenes with them, and got to know them a bit! They were all so lovely and very kind!

Canada Rehearsals

We then had 3 weeks of rehearsals in London before flying to Toronto. All the orphans were Canadian, so were rehearsing separately to us! There were some more new adult cast members too, and once again, they were all so lovely. There wasn't many changes to the show, and it was mainly recapping, and blocking the scenes and numbers with the new cast members. Every rehearsal was one closer to going to Toronto!

Flying to Toronto

On April 11th 2018, I flew to Toronto, with the cast and my chaperones. My parents were not coming to Toronto, as they were not allowed to chaperone me, so I had to say goodbye to them. They were coming to visit me 2 weeks after I had been out there, for my opening show. For the Toronto production, isobel and I had 3 chaperones between us, 2 of which alternated between shows, and took care of us 24/7, and we had a tutor with us as well. We only met our tutor on the day we flew to Toronto, which was scary, but she was really nice.

Going to the airport and saying goodbye to my family was really hard - my dad drove me, so i said goodbye to everyone in the morning. There were tears, and I tried so hard to be brave, as I was of course so excited, but so nervous too!

Saying goodbye to the airport was so hard, and I actually didn't cry thank goodness! After he was gone, I was fine - it was just the fear of being apart from them, and that built up.

Being at the airport and on the plane with the cast was so cool. I just felt so grown up, and part of all of the action the cast were experiencing. The flight was long, and we didn't get there until quite late, so I was so tired. There was also the added 5 hour time difference! So we arrived at 11pm Canadian time, which was actually 4pm GMT!

Setting Up the show in Canada

In Canada, we went straight into Tech! It was so cool, being abroad and seeing how things were compared to London. The processes were pretty similar. The main difference for me was the orphans… working with Canadian kids was fab! And because of their laws, there was only 1 team. That was kinda annoying, because I couldn't do all the shows, and the Annies were the only people in the whole show that didn't do the whole 50-show run (we did 25 each). But equally, it was so nice to have friends across the world, who I still speak to now (like pen pals :-)). And also, a new dog!! Ella wasn't as lively as Amber, and there were times she struggled to have the energy to move! She did cause some mistakes during the run, but that is live theatre! But nevertheless, she was just adorable!

Opening and Press in Canada

The producers decided to give Isobel an opening and press night in Canada, as I had done it in the West End. Naturally, I was a little disappointed, but so happy for Isobel, because she is just so talented!! Nevertheless, I loved going to the press party afterwards. By this point, my parents were in Toronto, and we stayed out really late with some of the adult cast which was awesome!

My opening night was only a day after the first show, and everyone was extra specially excited for me, and i loved the buzz of being back in the show again!

Live performances

There weren't as many live performances in Toronto as there were in London, because of the shorter one. However, I was given a press event for Annie, where I sang ‘Tomorrow’ on Breakfast Television! I was super cool! I had to get up at 5:45, and make sure my voice was really warm because it was so early! I was more nervous because ‘Tomorrow’ is not an easy song in the first place, let alone at 8am! It went really well though, and some of the cast members watched me live which was brilliant! The crew at the studio were so nice to me, and the presenter was especially nice, and told me I had an amazing voice, which was so lovely to hear.

Living in Toronto

I loved Toronto. It was such a fun, vibrant city, and I loved sightseeing and exploring. The whole cast were staying in these apartments 20minutes away from the theatre, and we were really close to the CN Tower! Izzy and I shared an apartment with 1 chaperone, and then we went to our tutor’s room for school, and there was another private chaperone room. I loved the apartment - it was modern, and big, and I loved sharing a room with Izzy. We would always wake each other up and talk about the show one of us had performed, and any news we had to report to each other. We really grew to become sisters.

I surprisingly wasn't too homesick - I called my family every morning and evening, and text them throughout. There were times when a show didn't go too well, and I just wanted a hug, or to speak to them, but it was too late at night in England. There were struggles, but these are drowned out by the exhilarating fun I had.

In terms of sightseeing, I visited Niagara Falls, Ripley’s Aquarium, CN Tower and this really cool Medieval Jousting Place. We also went to Casa Loma, a beautiful castle. Sightseeing was another highlight! Niagara Falls was probably a highlight. However, one of my favourite days in Toronto was when we went to the Distillery District, full of amazing food shops! We had amazing tapas, and a lovely walk back to the apartment.

Being abroad and seeing so many places was wonderful, and I was so happy to not only perform, but see the sights of the wonderful city!

Closing Annie

I had the final performance in Toronto, which was soooo sad. I cannot begin to describe how upset I was to be finishing a show that had been part of my life for over a year. The final show was electric, and I loved every second of it, and cherished each moment. In the bows, I didn't cry, I just took in the audience one last time, and thanked the universe for the absolute joy playing Annie gave me. Offstage, I was a mess, but those last few moments, I really absorbed all of those wonderful memories, and remembered the exhilarating buzz being up there gave me.

Life Lessons

Annie will always be close to my heart. It was my big break into the industry, and the chance of a lifetime. The opportunities and confidence it gave me were and are invaluable to me, and have given me such a burning passion to continue working in the theatre.

I still talk to members of the cast, which is really special, and have keepsakes and mementos of all the wonderful times I had, both in the West End and Toronto.

I will be forever grateful for the wonderful, charismatic, inspiring woman I got to play, and the show, Annie, and the lessons I learnt along the way, will be with me throughout every journey I am yet to take.