A very memorable week

Following on from Tuesday when we had such a wonderful day at Birkhall and then in the Fife, the week ended on a high too. On Friday night we went to The Lonach Ball. It was the closest to a proper ball we have been to since returning from overseas and the fantastic balls in the Al Bustan Palace in Muscat and the Borobodour in Jakarta. The hall was rustic yet splendid and nicely decorated, the tables, all 25 x10 were tastefully dressed, as were the participants...all kilts and black tie and formal dresses. The meal was excellent, 4 courses, all hot and delicious. Short speeches and presentations, then some piping and a dance band. The programme was simple, mainly ceilidh with no less than 4 Gay Gordons!!!. The ball was due to finish at 2 am with a bowl of soup but we left just after the tea and sandwiches at 12 midnight as we had an early breakfast for guests the next morning.
Saturday and Sunday we were off to Pitlochry for the Performance Masterclass at the Festival Theatre. We both had a blast and can't wait to go again next year. The first day started with a singing class led my two professional performers, George Rae and Shirley Darroch. We learned so much about different singing techniques, and started work on At the End of the Day, from Les Miserable, my all time favourite musical theatre. What fun. Then we were on to a class in accents with Carol Ann, who was absolutely amazing and could switch effortlessly from one accent to another. We got to read bits of Death of a Salesman and had to try New York accents. Great fun, and a skill worth pursuing. The afternoon class was on moving and observing, again aided by real professional actors and actresses - Gary and Helen Logan. On the second day we perfected our singing piece and staged it....we will be seeing the video at some point. We worked on scripts and how to treat them, did some improvisation, and play reading, and learned how to stage fights. So much in two days....fantastic. I met several nice people and one called Trixie is going to keep me informed about other residential acting classes out there. I just loved the whole weekend and am now going to get tickets for Whisky Galore and the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie if I can. Can't wait to see all these teachers in their professional roles on stage.