A Make Up for Stage & Screen student from Stratford-upon-Avon College recently took a leading role as the main make-up artist for a local pantomime.
Emily Grant, 17 from Broadway, has recently been involved in the pantomime production of Dick Whittington with the Phoenix Theatre Group in Evesham. The Group has been running for over 32 years, led by a group of enthusiastic volunteers who are passionate about drama.
After being a member of their youth group, Emily decided to get work experience doing make up for their most recent production. But after their lead artist had to drop out, Emily had to step up and take over.
Emily produced a range of looks for the show including the Dame, the Cat and King Rat
Keith Norlegde, who is a lead organiser of the backstage team, commented: “When Emily approached us about helping out with makeup for our annual Panto, always needing help, we jumped at the chance! Emily has been so professional, making up our Panto Dame as well as King Rat amongst many others. With covid restrictions she’s adapted to our self-imposed rules to try and mitigate infection.
The makeup she’s applied looks great. It’s been great having Emily come back and put something back into a group I hope she enjoyed performing with a few years ago. Whilst we don’t know what/where Emily’s career will take her, we really hope she’ll be back in October 2022 for our next big production – Shrek.”
Emily had a fantastic time working on the show: “I love the busy environment and seeing the outfits and make up all come together to create amazing looks. There is such an exciting atmosphere and it’s a great environment to be in.”
Emily has always enjoyed doing make-up, but it started out as a hobby. After initially trying a different subject area after finishing school, she found it wasn’t for her and joined the Make Up for Stage & Screen course at the College: “I wanted to be more creative, and this course offered me that.”
The work experience has been very beneficial for Emily: “I’ve learnt a lot about being adaptable. Doing make up for theatre is different as you have to change the way you apply it due to the stage lighting. Also, we were working with prosthetics and working to a short time limit so it was a great challenge.”
Make Up for Stage & Screen lecturer, Charlotte Hollingworth commented: “Emily showed versatility and the ability to adapt to situations; this will give Emily more confidence for future jobs in the industry where she might be faced with similar experiences again. Work experience like this is really beneficial, especially working in an environment that would challenge them, such as working with the public, working to more strict time frames and working with new products, and to ensure prosthetics stay adhered to the skin for the Theatrical performance.”
So, do we hope to see more of Emily’s fantastic work again soon? Oh yes we do!
