Dry Run

Survivors of yesterday's dryrun

Yesterday’s dry run for the Annual Function was a huge blessing. Held over four hours in the Garden, it has helped identify our strengths and weaknesses, scope for improvement and more important, shaken us out of complacence. In effect, we now have the big picture of how the show should pan out January 20.
Till now, rehearsals were held separately on individual items – be it a skit or the play, a dance number, song or even speech. At no point was any attempt made to meld the items together in sequence, time the duration and then, assess the overall impact. After yesterday’s exercise, we know the areas that need working upon afresh and what

Doesn't he look familiar?

to avoid altogether in order to save ourselves from potentially embarrassing moments.
One major discovery during the dry run was Angad Singh’s penchant for theatre. Playing his age, the way he could effortlessly slip into the skin of the character and deliver his lines from start to finish without faltering for a moment was verily a lesson for all of us. And to imagine, he was given his script just a day before and performing in public for the first time!
There were some other pleasant eye-openers, as well as dreadful disappointments. Sadly, those of us who appeared over-confident and were taking it easy now need working on the most. We have only five days left to all the brushing up and trouble-shooting. After all, artistes everywhere are notorious for nursing monstrous egos.
The good part though is that over the past month or so, ever since preparations for the function began, not for once has there been an unpleasant incident or flare-up of any kind. Ordinarily, in situations involving high strung individuals having delusions of grandeur, war would have broken out. But then, ours is a laughter club and we insist on having fun.

Dilip Babani:
OMG! This man looks like the Big Lutera of Lokhadwala. But I know who he really is.

Karun Sharma:
It was an exercise to ensure we come good on 20th January. I was stunned to find so much clarity and a deep understanding of theater from our Blog Monster. His suggestions, when implemented, led to immediate and clear positive results. Col. Angad Singh was superb. His dialogue delivery, in the best traditions of deadpan comedy, was simply amazing. Everybody did not do as well as he/ she had been performing during the rehearsals. While competence is there, we need total commitment as well. My son, Madhur feels that the programme can be opened with Gupta-ji's speech as it will set the tone of the evening's proceedings. We need to work harder to put out our best.

Lt Col Angad Singh (retd):
All participants have realised their plus and minus points. They are working on them. Hope there will be improvement and the audience will enjoy our performance on the big day.