Finale

Kenneth May 7th

I think I speak for all of us when i say this:

*phew!*

The sweat, the tears, and the bruises have all been worth it to see the show to a dazzling finish. I will miss your laughter that saw me through my first year at Bristol university!

Day 2

Bettina May 6th

We were honoured with the presence of the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Bristol today. Dr. Crossley Evans, The Warden of Manor Hall accompanied by Tulsi Kotecha, Sarah Bingham and I were there to meet them upon their arrival. The Warden held a reception where we were able to talk about a whole range of things varying from politics to blackberries (yep the wireless handheld devices) and from virges to the history of the University.

The Lord Mayor, Lady Mayoress and Warden had plenty of interesting stories to share with us. The room was consistently filled with laughter. When the audience was seated, Louise and Joy (acting as the Empress’s serving girls) came downstairs to escort the guests to their seats. And thus, the second night of our show began!

The show went surprisingly smooth today, thanks to the exceptionally organised stage manager, Jolie Chow. We ended on time today and after the bows and curtsies, the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress kindly came up to the stage to take a group photo with the cast and crew.

It definitely was an excellent pleasure to meet the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress today, they were very approachable and friendly. The stories that they shared with us were very interesting. Many of them unimaginable and many hilarious!

A third of the way there!

Kenneth May 5th

Well, after the first night of the premier of “The Banquet”, I have to say it was very enjoyable to finally present to the audience the six months of hard work, put in by all of the cast members. There were ups and downs; how during the show people were missing, props were missing, bits of the stage near-falling, things falling over backstage, lights and sounds… BUT! We put on a heck of a show, and the effect has amazing! The Banquet is truly the highlight of my first year at the university. It is fantastic that even though we have seen each other every other day (almost) for the past 6 months, everyone is still getting along splendidly and I think we’ve all learn something remarkable from our friends closeby.

So! Let me be the first to say that it has been a pleasure working with you all. Lets go on with the other two-thirds of the shows! Good luck!!

65 hours 38 minutes 29 seconds to the Big Show

Jann May 2nd

This is crazy. We are actually doing this Banquet thing…within 65 hours 38 minutes and 29 seconds to be exact. But I know by the time I finish writing this, will have to re-calculate the remaining time again.

Today we had a full rehearsal starting from 5pm, and many of us were still working on it till very late. We’ve been working so hard for this! I am really looking forward to the show. But right now I am tired now…anyway…got to save energy for tomorrow!

We will do it! We are getting there! We are almost there! GO GO Banquet crew!

With less than 10 days to go…

Kenneth April 25th

Yesterday, with less than 10 days to go, all the cast members were excited and fully hyped about the upcoming event of the year. There were some moaning about the 4-hour-long rehearsal but everyone was happy to watch once the acting began.

Things kicked off starting with the very first scene, in which Tara could not stop laughing (at me, I presume). Next up was me and Nick’s scene, where he threatens to kill with a deadly purple highlighter. While this was going on, Eduardo and Marcus were given their very revealing *cough* male costume, to wear when ‘dancing’. Unfortunately for all, they absolutely refused to go shirtless. The duo’s contrasting style/personalities, both on and off stage, is sure to make you smile :). Jann and I had close to one hour of ‘How to act…’ lessons from Jolie, the talented director from a previous successful drama. These were move to just outside of MR6L, where the elevators were. The tips were excellent! So very very glad that Jolie is literally rescuing my murdered acting skills! I’m positive that we collectively scared quite a few passers-by, but i doubt they will recognise us in real life…*hopes*

Rehearsal was then moved downstairs for the fighting scenes, which were both tiring and enjoyable simontaneously. There were a lot of kicking involved. These are a must-see part of the show because everyone has put their best effort into making it hilariously realistic.

Honestly, I think this may be the last rehearsal before panic seeps in. With very few days left, it is very good to see everyone working together to achieve a better effort and my thanks go to them all! Go team! Special mention goes to Bettina who turned up even though she was ill, and Jolie for helping us out (big time)!

Fight scene video shoot

Kenneth April 19th

Wednesday was havoc as we kept to the ever busying schedule of the video shoots. With all three guards (Zixia, Dahn and Yangmin) dressed up in worryingly attractive Chinese clothing, Sam filmed the frequently rehearsed martial arts scene for the trailer for the Banquet. The guards, not wanting to forward roll on solid ground, decided that crash mats were absolutely necessary for softer landings.

Nick, our bubbly assassin, were to be attacked by the trio in the video. However, due to the lack of contact lenses and safety issues, Nick was temporarily blind with shortsightedness, which only added to the hilarity. Several times, Dahn accidentally beat the assassin leading to many funny outtakes. They then each chose their favorite poses to be filmed for the trailer, as well as shown off some awesome kicking/nunchucking skills.

Later, we had the fight scene rehearsal for the Assassin, Emperor and Langyin. Nick insisted on body armour and an attractive “adidas” cup when Jann practised her cartwheel kicks, claiming that they were incredibly deadly. That then somehow developed into me having body armour and being punchbag. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! Honestly, who’s idea was it to give a roomful of immature guys body armour and crash mats?! Resident talent Bettina and ever–smily Miranthi then decided to have a limbo competition, in which they clearly had the height advantage.

All in all, it was a day full of cartwheels, kick–ups, pain and laughter.

Filming clips for the trailer

Daniel April 18th

We’ve just tried on the costumes we will be wearing today, and filmed some clips to be edited later, for the trailer of The Banquet, using the wonderful and elegant setting of Clifton Hill House. The weather was nice so we stayed outside until it got dark…we then went inside and did some more.

Ken, Tara and Nick also acted out certain scenes, while Sam filmed. We all got to dress up, those robes are called “cheongsams”, and we all got some with a really fancy hat to go with it.

I’m looking forward to see the trailer as it’s our potential audience’s first taste of what’s to come!

Photo Shoot

Bettina April 8th

Bristol’s weather treated us very finely today while we had our first photoshoot for three of our fabulous models—Eriko, Kimia and Haruka. Augustine, our very professional photographer and Samuel, film and video master (and also temporary changing room holder) were the powers behind the shoot.

We chose our two locations to be in Clifton and went for a ‘dreamy’ look. This meant climbing trees, being swarmed by bees and other insects, and trying to balance on top of a 2-storey high archway, not to mention standing barefoot amongst thick greenery on damp, mossy slopes, avoiding metre-long spider webs and trying to look serene while lying down with the midday sun shining directly into your eyes.

All went very smoothly and we were able to end at around 2:30pm. The boys subsequently left and we girls decided we deserved a pizza feast! After four satisfying pizzas, we headed out to try the famous chocolate café in Clifton. We bought hot white chocolate (yep, hot chocolate made white chocolate!) and savoured this liquid heaven by relaxing on the grass in a park nearby. A wonderful to enjoy a sunny afternoon!