There are costumes everywhere, the children just arrived at the Red Cross office, and we have 1 ½ hour before the play starts. Before that we have to make 20 children into mice, birds, kings, queens and Cinderella. We also need to go trough the whole play one more time to make sure that the kids know where to enter and leave the stage. Seems like a lot to do on only 90minuttes?
The 8 youngest children are birds and mice. They are between 5 and 7 years old, and standing in front of me with joy and stubbornness in their eyes. I imagine that their thoughts are something similar to this “I want to look like a bird. I want to wear yellow feathers on my head, and have yellow shiny fabric tied around my arms. But do I want to listen to this Norwegian girl standing in front of me, trying to say something in a language that I guess is supposed to be Armenian?”
Luckily for me, the desire to look like a bird or mice wins, and the children stay semi calm while the volunteers and I put on their costumes. Then it is time for make up; even though the youngest ones don’t seem very interested in how they look with rouge and mascara, they are very eager to get their face made up before their friends. The queen, the fairy, the two step sisters, the mum and Cinderella are all a bit older, and extremely excited to wear make up. After they are finished they run over to me and ask; “How do I look, how do I look.” I look at them and their dresses and say “Beautiful, you look absolutely beautiful.” The smile I get in return melts any heart.
Ok, that was the costumes. Now, we need to go through the whole play from beginning to end. At this point my stress level has gone from moderate to high. There are so many things we need to remember, changing costumes, guiding the children in and out of the stage, making them understand that they need to be quite and sit still so the audience won’t see them while they are not on stage, and the list goes on.
The run trough is horrible. Many of the volunteers have been busy with exams when we have had the practices of the play at the Red Cross office, so they are not updated on the latest details on the play. The children are not concentrating, and they music does not work.
It is 15 min until the play is supposed to start, and my head is boiling. We bring all the children in to a separate room. While volunteers and staff members from the whole Red Cross family sits down in, and the Secretary General of the National Society starts to speak, I run around downstairs looking for the volunteer who is responsible for moving props on the stage. I can’t find him, but have to go upstairs. It is my time to say a couple of words.
I congratulate us with the international Red Cross day, tell that we have been working for about 3 months with the play, and say that I hope they will enjoy it. Then the play starts.
The 8 youngest children are birds and mice. They are between 5 and 7 years old, and standing in front of me with joy and stubbornness in their eyes. I imagine that their thoughts are something similar to this “I want to look like a bird. I want to wear yellow feathers on my head, and have yellow shiny fabric tied around my arms. But do I want to listen to this Norwegian girl standing in front of me, trying to say something in a language that I guess is supposed to be Armenian?”
Luckily for me, the desire to look like a bird or mice wins, and the children stay semi calm while the volunteers and I put on their costumes. Then it is time for make up; even though the youngest ones don’t seem very interested in how they look with rouge and mascara, they are very eager to get their face made up before their friends. The queen, the fairy, the two step sisters, the mum and Cinderella are all a bit older, and extremely excited to wear make up. After they are finished they run over to me and ask; “How do I look, how do I look.” I look at them and their dresses and say “Beautiful, you look absolutely beautiful.” The smile I get in return melts any heart.
Ok, that was the costumes. Now, we need to go through the whole play from beginning to end. At this point my stress level has gone from moderate to high. There are so many things we need to remember, changing costumes, guiding the children in and out of the stage, making them understand that they need to be quite and sit still so the audience won’t see them while they are not on stage, and the list goes on.
The run trough is horrible. Many of the volunteers have been busy with exams when we have had the practices of the play at the Red Cross office, so they are not updated on the latest details on the play. The children are not concentrating, and they music does not work.
It is 15 min until the play is supposed to start, and my head is boiling. We bring all the children in to a separate room. While volunteers and staff members from the whole Red Cross family sits down in, and the Secretary General of the National Society starts to speak, I run around downstairs looking for the volunteer who is responsible for moving props on the stage. I can’t find him, but have to go upstairs. It is my time to say a couple of words.
I congratulate us with the international Red Cross day, tell that we have been working for about 3 months with the play, and say that I hope they will enjoy it. Then the play starts.
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