BARE dress rehearsal

Earlier today BARE had their dress rehearsal at the ADC Theatre. It is a play about two boys struggling with their feelings for each other in a Catholic boarding school. This musical has received a lot of attention, and you can read about how we climbed up on King’s College chapel for the post photo shoot.

‘It’s hard to find your way, when you have no voice to guide you.’

Set in a Catholic boarding school, BARE is the story of Jason and Peter, whose forbidden love causes them to ask questions both of themselves and their god.

With graduation approaching, and the added pressure of the school’s production of Romeo and Juliet, these questions are getting more insistent.

When religion makes up so much of who you are, how do you continue when the world you thought you understood has fallen apart around you?

 

Here are the photos from the dress rehearsal. As usual it was a little bit delayed, so there are some photos of the cast goofing off before the musical started.

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Ed Limb and Joe Spence having some fun before the dress rehearsal starts.
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Warming up: A bit of singing in the deep. Joe Spence, Joanna Clarke, Kitty Sillars, Emily Murray, Ed Limb, Lucy Dickson and Keegan Featherstone as the Priest in the background.

I also recorded a short clip of the BARE cast warming up. Wish I had more to show you, they sounded amazing.

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Keegan Featherstone and Emily Murray posing for the camera in front of the beautiful window light.
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Joanna Clarke praying. I like the mixture of blue and orange in this photo. Sam Payne did a great job with the lighting design.

The dress rehearsal starts with the song ‘Epihany’…

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Joanna Clarke, Joe Pitts, Olivia Gaunt and Thomas Taplin in a catholic school.

“I can tell you found true love and blah blah blah, its fate”

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Joanna Clarke, Joe Pitts, Olivia Gaunt and Thomas Taplin. In the background James Daley and Keegan Featherstone.

“For ever and ever and ever and ever, for ever and ever forever amen”

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Joanna Clarke, Joe Pitts, Olivia Gaunt and Thomas Taplin.
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Joanna Clarke, Joe Pitts and Thomas Taplin.
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Ed Limb and Joe Pitts find each other to the song ‘You and I’.
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Joe Pitts singing ‘Role of a Lifetime’
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The school choir. Olivia Gaunt, Joanna Clarke, Kitty Sillars, Emily Murray, James Daley, Ed Limb, Thomas Taplin, Joe Spence and Joe Pitts.
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Lucy Dickson and Ed Limb. Sister and brother.
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Lucy Dickson, during ‘A quiet night at home’.
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Joe Pitts and Ed Limb.
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Ed Limb and Joe Pitts.
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Front row: Olivia Gaunt, Joanna Clarke, Lucy Dickson, Kitty Sillars, Joe Spence. Back Row: James Daley and Thomas Taplin.
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Emily Murray
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James Daley and Kitty Sillars.
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Kitty Sillars and Ed Limb.
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Olivia Gaunt, Emily Murray and Joanna Clarke.
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Joe Pitts and Ed Limb. “There’s no such thing as heroes who are queer”
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Joe Pitts. “You’ve hurt me more than you know.”
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Kitty Sillars
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Lucy Dickson
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Joe Pitts with Ed Limb and Kitty Sillars in the background. I like photos such as this when there are two things going on at the same time on stage, and you can fit them both into the frame to tell a story.
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Joe Pitts
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Ed Limb, Emily Murray and Joe Pitts. Joe’s character is dreaming.
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Joe Pitts with Ed Limb, Keegan Featherstone and Kitty Sillars in the background.
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Speaking on the phone with his mother. He is trying to tell her, but he does not get a chance. Joe Pitts with Holly Musgrave in the background.
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Ed Limb and Joe Pitts.
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Ed Limb and Joanna Clarke.
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Emily Murray as the understanding nun.
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Kitty Sillars with Joe Pitts and Ed Limb.
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Kitty Sillars and Lucy Dickson.
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Ed Limb
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Kitty Sillars and Ed Limb. James in the background is blurry because of the large aperture used.
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Kitty Sillars, James Daley, Joe Pitts and Ed Limb.
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Ed Limb
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Joe Pitts and Ed Limb

Jason: Do you remember
that day that you met me?
I swear it was yesterday, I knew with a glance.
That you were the question,
and you were the answer.
That the world would make sense again if I held your hand.
Someday you’ll look back, and I hope you’ll remember
the moment of truth when I knew who I was.
How did I learn the truth you gave to me?

Peter: I will always remember
that first stolen moment.
There you were kissing me, and time seemed to freeze.
Now I stand at a crossroad,
and I stare at a question…
If prayer were the answer, I’d fall on my knees.

But forward is calling, and I cannot stay here.
A parting of souls as I try to move on.
How do I forget the dream you shared with me?

Jason/Peter:
I’ve never been this bare/I’ve never been so scared.
I’ve never felt such honesty/Doubts that will never go away.
A moment of such peace/Each of us standing bare.
Knowing what you mean to me/Knowing who we have to be.

Jason: Know as you hold my hand
Peter: I hope and pray that you’ll understand
Jason: Forever you and …
Jason/Peter: I know you’re here in my heart.
Jason: Please understand that I tried.
Peter: Try to see it’s not goodbye.

Peter: The act is beginning,
The audience waiting…

Jason: NO! Stay in this moment where secrets reveal.
Here in a world where there’s safety in falsehood, I have discovered the one thing that’s real.
That I love you, and I’ve loved you from the start.
And if you hold that close to you we’ll never be apart.
Peter…

Peter: That I loved you
Jason: Please know I loved you

Jason/Peter: From the start…

Lyrics from stlyrics.com

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Joe Pitts and Ed Limb
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Joe Pitts and Ed Limb.
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Joe Pitts

“Do you know how much he loved? Do you know how much he cared?”

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Kitty Sillars, Holly Musgrave, Joe Pitts, Thomas Taplin and Joanna Clarke.
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Holly Musgrave, Joe Pitts and Emily Murray. The backlit spotlights provide atmospheric light.
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Olivia Gaunt, Joanna Clarke and Thomas Taplin.

Reviews: Varsity (5/5 stars), The Cambridge Student (10/10) and The Cambridge Tab (4.5/5 stars)

Cast
Jason – Ed Limb
Peter – Joe Pitts
Ivy – Kitty Sillars
Nadia – Lucy Dickson
Claire – Holly Musgrave
Lucas – Joe Spence
Sister Chantelle – Emily Murray
Kyra – Olivia Gaunt
Diane – Joanna Clarke
Matt – James Daly
Zack – Thomas Taplin
Priest – Keegan Featherstone

Band
Keys 1/Conductor – Joe Beighton
Keys 2 – Claudia Grinnell
Guitar – Karan Singha
Bass – Adam Harrison
Drums – Elspeth Collard
Flute – Sian Whitby

Production Team
Director – Sarah Mercer
Producer – Emily Newton
Musical Director – Joe Beighton
Sound Designer – Johannes Ruckstuhl
Deputy Stage Manager – Lewis Scott
Rehearsal Photographer – Angharad Owen
Lighting Designer – Sam Payne
Assistant Musical Director – Claudia Grinnell
Stage Manager – Eleanor Mitchell
Co-Choreographer – Megan Henson
Assistant Director – Georgie Henley,Ryan Howard
Production Photographer – Johannes Hjorth
Stain Glass Window Designer – Harry Stockwell
Jigsaw Extraordinnaire – David Stansby
Technical Consultant – Sheeana Patel
Co-Technical Director – Emily Newton, Sam Payne, Lewis Scott
Production Electrician – Lewis Scott,Eleanor Mitchell
Publicity Designer – Emily Newton

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