wedding pictures... the bridal party takes to the stage

A sneak peak at a few of our fabulous pics taken in our photo booth - or the love booth - or on the stage - where cross dressing abounded, theatrics unfolded, young love blossomed, and a whole load of good fun was had by all... give them a stage and they will give you a show!

Our fabulous artist friends Alastair and Jeanette were literally finishing off painting the back drop on the grass outside the reception barn... using the Freestate Mountains that surround the farm house for authenticity... colour... shadow...

'was that my cue?'

'and they lived happily ever after...'

'ahhhhhhhhhhh.... ahhhhhhhhhh..... ahhh!

'this conversation is over... for now'

'yes hurry along... we're ready'

'we could stay like this for ever...'

'we just got hitched... yes I know'

'cheeeese'

'oh honey... they want to take our picture'

'thank you and goodnight, you've been a fine audience'

a family portrait of the Collocott-Warrens

button badges. Mm.

When looking for button badges simply go to http://www.buttonbadges.co.za/ - but of course! How simple. Yay. Grahamstown is 4 weeks away. There is much to do. Get our marketing in order for one.... Finish the script for Dirt for two... Edit the Mandela play for three... get High Diving back on it's feet for four... Oh. Presure ding ding ding da da ling ding. We got chosen for the NAC play reading at the festival this year with Making Mandela. Very exciting. Yay.

High Diving around the country...well Joburg & Cape Town...

After a long silence - there is much to talk about... We took High Diving to Festival of Fame in Joburg and Out the Box in Cape Town...

Starting with Festival of Fame

This was our second experience at this super cool Fest for school kids... Our first year was last year, we took Weekend Special, and during one of our performances the cool kids in the back row let off two stink bombs - i'm not even kidding! Can you cope! I'm laughing now - but I wasn't laughing then - between mock charging and the hideous smell of rotten eggs is a tiny room with no windows and in the middle of summer! Beautiful. Not so funny!

But Festival of Fame 2010 I am happy to report went by stink-bomb free - the only hiccup was that we were given a strange time slot when the visiting schools had already left, so leaving us the odd loitering student and few die-hard theatre enthusiasts who had ventured to a school room in Braamfontein to watch a play. Mncedisi Shabangu being one of them - what I know about theatre is you often have to select whose criticism you take on - Mncedisi is one of these people - if you're lucky enough to have seen one of his shows or actually been lucky enough to see him breath in and out on stage you'll know what I mean. He came to watch and left immediately without a word - aaah he hates it! Enough to break my heart. But happily no - got to love gmail chat - we chatted and he loved it! Yay.

Out the Box Festival...

Cape Town rocks - people go to the theatre and are friendly and there's a theatre community and dress well... however... and just so that everything in not only perfect... they drive slowly and really dig performance art! Two things I cannot understand! Right so... Our play was well received - except for one rather bitter blogger - but other than that we got big claps and standing ovations. We also saw some fantastic shows... rock on... but most excitingly I attended the Handspring Puppet Company workshops.

What a luck!
Hey?
No really.

It was - well - wonderful. A group of 13 or so bright eyed enthusiasts with Adrian Kohler a bright eyed genius... rummaging around their workshop sawing, cutting, gluing, sanding... all to make a control that will - one day in the not too distant future - manipulate a head and a pair of wings.

Oh and of course not to forget - the fabulous moving joints shadow puppets we made on day 1 - with brilliant 'pull back' mechanisms - so that when my very elementary Giraffe bends to eat - it automatically stands tall when I release the control - how cool - Oh the joys.

So - we had three days in their - Basil & Adrian's - workshop - it was like being in the bowls of THE THEATRE seeing the place where magic is made by - well - brilliant people. We also got to see - and play with - the duck - yes the very same duck - from War Horse - West end smash hit soon to be Broadway smash hit! As if that wasn't enough we then got to play with their other precious puppets from shows like Tall Horse - as you will see in the very short AV clip - in a two day manipulation workshop. 5 whole days. So yay.

Check out the video... the footage in order of appearance...
1. The students banging away in the Workshop
2. Adrian demonstrating a finished head mechanism
3. The actual mechanism I made... although you can't see the whole thing!
4. The fantastic Duck from War Horse... but if you look carefully you will see - the foot is the wrong way around! v. funny.
5. My fellow enthusiasts trying very hard to manipulate a very large and awesome puppet from Tall Horse

So I came home from Cape Town inspired and rejuvenated... Thanks also to all the lovely warm and welcoming people I met! Yay. Oh and yes we were nominated for a 2010 Handspring Puppet company award for visual theatre in the category of Best Design - we didn't win - but we were nominated.

Wedding plans are a marching

I'm getting married next week and my to do list - as the cliche goes - is getting longer. I have met and connected with such lovely people along the way....

Firstly, and in no order, We Love Pictures - two fabulous Pretoria based - soon to be Cape Town based - photographers, Travis & Maike. Really their stuff is so good - check it out they are also on blogger - welovepictures. Maike also has a blog with the coolest title... love made me do it! So for the 'ding dong bells are going to chime' we are making a theatre photo booth. How cute... cos like Nick and I both make theatre.... Alastair Findley - Groomsman extraordinaire artist and general enthusiast for the big day - is painting the backdrop. x

Okay.

Donna the lantern lady in Hartebeespoort - check out her stuff on www.skylanterns.co.za - so pretty. And she's so lovely & helpful & well priced...all things we do love.

Then Fiona's for fabric. Really everyone bangs on about the Oriental Plaza but I say bring on Fiona's Randburg - its simpler and easier - not vast and rambling. Although I did break out and eat a whole load of cheese and onion samosas and I got some fabric from the OP - but really for material... Fiona's rocks... 100% cotton, granny printed... I will post pictures - that I will - after the BIG day. Shh.

My dress of course - which I collect ON SATURDAY- tomorrow - very excited - by Abigail Betz - we share a birthday - weird hey... 18 September. I have a new found love for beautiful clothing... www.abigailbetz.co.za ... you will too!

'Everything's going so well' - Zidler, Moulin Rouge

Then of course Oranje Farm - the venue itself - where we're getting married like - Elsa the organiser is helpful and efficient and creative and also very very nice. She managed to get the little purple flowers I wanted after thinking that she couldn't. Mmmm.

Another fab Freestate find - another lady named Elsa - the wife of the owner of Cafe Moulin in Clarens - go there - is doing my cake - oh my cake! Wedding cake. Icing. Strawberry's. Truffles. She makes the best cake i've ever eaten. Pictures pictures pictures - oh the secrecy of a wedding. Shhh.

Today i'm going to collect our engraved wedding rings - how kitch?

I love it.

Oh wowser I nearly forgot - the golden egg - my invitations, name places, table numbers, seating plan - designer printer person... Marisa! What a find. I can put my invitation here - cos - yes the cats out the bag - we're getting MARRIED! So is so so so amazing and talented and sophisticated and elegant and yes - well priced! www.bespokeonline.co.za

After literally weeks of - how are we going to light the venue - crisis - the fab photographers gave me such a fab idea... and idea the lighting shop in Parkhurst is going to realise - how helpful. They have these specific light bulbs i've been looking for, which, apparently, you can't get anymore. Well, the good news is, you can - in Parkhurst. Pictures.

And finaly - I think - Grant from Croft & Co in Parkview - ex-owner of Scuzi - is helping us get delicious wine. If you ask they will help.

That's all for now. I think that's quite enough.

Out the Box

Out the Box is only a few days away now - very excited - Cape Town, Theatre, and - so extremely excited - Handpring Puppet Company workshop.

We'll be there with High Diving - but there are stax of brilliant shows on which I am very excited to watch!

Clowns & clouds

So much is happening. Firstly - we have settled on a date. At around 4pm on the 8 May 2010 - I will be Mrs Warren. My name as I've always know it - Jenine Collocott - will become my stage name. How bizarre. And of course we broke our diet spectacularly! After deciding where we were going to get married it was impossible to just go home sit on the couch, sip water, and nibble on a dry pro-vita...

So instead we found a charming cafe - Cafe Moulin - on the High Street in Clarens, with buckets of roses lining the the doorway and drank two bottles of Uitkyk Sauvignon Blanc and devoured a massive and mouth-wateringly delicious cheese platter.




We then drove home to the backdrop of the most wonderful sun set - with music blaring - and chose the song for our first dance. How are those clouds?






Today - in fact not 10 minutes ago - I brought my ticket to Florence Italy where i'm going to live and attend a clown school for 6-months. Helikos under the guidance of the wonderful teacher Giovanni Fusetti. This is us at the workshop that CHANGED MY LIFE!




Of course Nick is not coming with me. So... married women alone in the world. Then while I was typing this my phone rang with an unrecognisable number - Peter from the National Arts Council South Africa - they funded the scripting of our new play 'Making Mandela' and he would like to put it forward to the board for an official reading at the Grahamstown Festival which could lead to production funding.... eeee! We start re-rehearsals for High Diving for the Festival of Fame in Joburg and for Out the Box in Cape Town. Rock on. Out of interest my natural clown (and we all have one - we are born with it - like our height - and our personalities) is a flirt. A stupid flirt. Love that.