Let me start off by saying that I was slightly less than enthused at the idea of dressing myself as a pirate and taking part in the Torquay carnival parade to help promote this years annual pantomime. Perhaps I am getting grumpier as I get older, but parading down the road looking like an extra from a Disney movie, let’s be honest you are bound to walk past somebody you know, right? But, as I have found with many things over the couple of years I have been with SADS, just when you think something is going to be overwhelmingly dull and menial, it actually turns out to be a lot of fun!
The day started off with me realising that the beginning of the “proper” cold weather is not the right time of year to be wearing a thin felt waistcoat and an even thinner polyester vest top! I looked around sheepishly at the other folk with thermal jumpers and the like, beneath their pirate garb and realised, erm, I have made a bit of an error in judgement here! You see, being extremely cold is easy to handle, when there is a large group of people shivering away, but when everyone else is blissfully cosy in their 14 layers and your hands are beginning to lose sensation, you start to feel like a bit of a wally!
Having said that, me being me, and being used to looking like a bit of a wally – let’s face it, if you are a fan of am-dram you have to posses the ability to turn off the part of your brain that says “hang on a minute, everybody is pointing and laughing” So we waited and waited and finally, we waited some more! You see, we were told to get there for 2:30, but the procession wasn’t due to get underway till 4:30! Now I would be lying if I said they were the shortest two hours of my life, however, just the joyous enthusiasm of the other SADS members and the youthful exuberance of the costume clad pirate children made it all seem, like just a bit of fun! There was a really lovely atmosphere of community and dare I say it, Christmas spirit, that made for a really enjoyable couple of hours!
Then the Walk began! And myself, Hilary, Danielle, Dave Jackson, Pat Cook and even a plucky Olive set on the promotional trail and this is where the real fun started, you see, being in the parade is good crack as the Irish would say! I am certain we did a good job of promoting the panto and indeed the society. Hilary was characteristically buoyant and her enthusiasm whilst dishing out flyers was infectious! But moreso than the banter between society members, what made the experience memorable was the look of awe and wonderment on the face of children as we passed by and they donated coppers to the parade participants. Even older kids showed enthusiasm for the parade, even though it was laced with just a twinge of adolescent sarcasm!
Anyway, I could rabbit on about the experience, more than I have already! But to sum it up, I think entering SADS in the carnival was an inspired idea and I think it should be a pre-panto ritual! Will it increase panto ticket sales by 50%? who knows? Will it reduce sales? No way! Is it good fun? Definitely. I personally think for next year’s panto it should be put on the rehearsal schedule from the start, in the same way stage up is, I know not everyone can attend, but it would be nice to have the majority of the cast next year, not trying to sound critical as I know it was a little last minute this year and I’m sure with more notice the participation level would increase!
Oh, one more thing, I did see a tonne of people I knew! But I got a kiss off my wife and heard a work colleague tell her kids that I was the worlds best looking pirate - not bad for a nights work!
