After some nice Easter holiday relaxation, I'm now working on my final end of year assessment (a short piece of theatre I have to perform as my final exam), Moliere's "Tartuffe", and Bernstein's "Candide". The role I'm most excited about is Voltaire/Pangloss in "Candide". I was asked to fill in last minute when the actor meant to play the part had to back out. I walked into day one of rehearsal without even having read the libretto. I had never read Voltaire's original text nor heard any of Berstein's orchestration. I didn't know how big my role was either. Well it is enormous! I narrate the whole story and sing several solos and several ensemble pieces. It is musically one of the best musicals I've ever heard. Pick up a copy of the John Caird version off the internet, its the 1999 one. The production is with the Welsh National Opera- Youth Opera. The young people in the show have amazing voices. I was asked to come and take on the role of Voltaire because I've trained at RWCMD for three years and the part needs to be played by an actor who can sing, rather than a singer who is not trained in acting. I was flattered and took the part and it is shaping up to be a really great show. The director and musical director are both really great to work with and its good to know that they are already pleased with what I'm doing with the part. We are performing on the 15, 16, and 17th of July at the Wales Millennium Center in Cardiff Bay. The center is amazing, go to www.wmc.org.uk to check it out. It was opened in 2004 by HRH Queen Elizabeth II. Huge cultural attraction. The other play, Tartuffe, I was added to last minute as well, because the part I'm playing was going to be doubled, but the director preferred each character played by a different actor. So I come on at the very end and deliver a wonderful speech to end the play. What a wonderful part. Very memorable and very short. Brevity is the soul of wit. Someone said that once. And my End of Year Assessment just today came to me. I was a bit worried that the performance date is fast approaching and I didn't have a solid idea until today. I now know that I'm going to (rather ambitiously) base it on Plato's allegory of the cave. So I can say no more than that I'm going to attempt to bring out the meaning Plato described in 'The Republic' when he wrote down that all men are chained in a cave watching shadows of reality until one solitary person challenges it and seeks out the real life that is making the shadowy figures on the dark wall ahead of him. So we'll see what happens. x al