UCCB Youth Drama Group’s Adventures in Making a Parade Float!
As many of you may or may not know, thePS is heavily involved with the UCCB Youth Drama group (what with 3 of us being teaching assistants and what not with the various classes). So, when it came to making a parade to celebrate the playhouse, it was our civic duty to take part... and then capitalize on the situation by taking a bunch of pictures and making this very article about it! Wow! Talk about timing, eh? Anywho, I suppose first what is needed is a basic description of said float, as (in keeping with the philosophy of past ‘adventure’ articles), we never actually see the float or the parade itself. So, hopefully this vague description will help you “see” it.
The float had 3 sections to it:
1. Macbeth (with witches, cauldron, and the king of the Scot’s himself)
2. The Mad-Hatter’s tea party (from Alice in Wonderland)
3. Pirates of the Carribean (with 4 valiant pirates, etc.)
Also we had people walking along side the float, handing out candy/punching people. Where did we all fit into this? Well, that’s what we’re going to find out with these pictures! Geez yer impatient... settle just a sec, or I won’t even DO the article... naw, I’m just kidding, I’ll still do it. Here we go! Avast!
Here we are doing what we did for the bulk of the day: waiting! Yeah, several hours were spent just kinda waiting around in a warm parking lot... eventually a flat-bed truck arrived which would become our float. Also, a man showed up with a bike, asking why we were hanging out in a warm parking lot with an empty flat-bed truck... which was really the highlight of this period. Also, notice the disdain on the face of Mr. Christian Young. But then, you’d be disdainful if you lived in a garbage can, as Christian does... he’s a regular Oscar the grouch.
Eventually, because we were doing SUCH a good job of waiting, they decided to buy our love with food (this was about 17 hours later, so we gladly accepted). The food of choice: Greco pizza - one of the finest foods on earth. I ate about 11 pieces myself. Christian ate with disdain.
After the float actually got all set up, we had to go to Kristen’s house to get changed into our costumes. So Christian drove us there (with great disdain... and also metal). Pictured above is what was referred to as “a Thompson sandwich”: Bread - James F.W. Thompson; Meat - Erin; Bread - Lindsay Thompson. Good fun for all. Thumbs up indeed.
After we got back to the lot avec costumes, I feared for my eyes as Kristen put on my makeup (which basically consisted of a LOT of eye makeup). Kristen is in her full costume, as a Pirate-girl/hostage... she kinda switched back and forth which I suppose didn’t make a WHOLE lot of sense, but then, neither does Kristen. Oh well. At least she didn’t poke out my eyes, and I only needed minor stitches from her make-up applications. Make up for my costume which would be...
Captain Jack Sparrow! Yes! I got to act like a drunken-pirate Johnny Depp throughout downtown Sydney! Twas great fun! Although the picture doesn’t have it, I also had a really kick-ass coat. Twas quite kick-ass. Also pictured is Kristen in her full pirate garb, and Christian as disdainful Macbeth. Swords are fun!
Here’s all 4 pirates for the ‘Pirates of the Carribean’ section. They are, from left to right: Kristen (in her confusing ‘switchin’ sides costume); me (as Capt. Jack Sparrow - I loves saying that) - apparently right before I killed the photographer; Ben (as Mr. Ben - pretty piratey, wha?); and Wesley (as Will Turner, though I called him Mr. Smee all day... as I am fun)
Getting to some other people’s costumes - here is Brian Gallivan as the Big Bad Wolf. A fitting costume, seeing how he made us wait in the blistering heat for well over 36 hours with nothing but a man on a bike to feed upon. Also, he later blew down the flat-bed truck. I didn’t think the little hippie had that kinda lung-capacity. I guess I learned something that day.
Okay, before I get to Erin’s picture, I need to explain what happened with her costume. She wasn’t able to go the day before to pick out her own costume, so she left us in charge to pick one out for her. As you may know, I (and many of my associates) cannot handle that kind of responsibility, and thus the task was blown. So, what we did was made up a costume out of a mish-mash of parts: a snake’s head, raggedy clothing, and talking Hulk-hands (which are awesome). We just wrote her of as a weird monster, and let it go at that. It wasn’t until about 30 minutes later that put it all together in my head... more S-shaped... spinitties... a beefy arm for good measure... Erin was none other than...
TROGDOR!! The Burninator! Wow! Check out all her majesty. Seriously, check it out. Now then what with all the quote-unquote “celebrities” (do I need to write ‘quote-unquote’ when I actually use quotes? Meh..), why not fake some chance meetings between them. So, above, is Trogdor, the Burninator at a box-social with Capt. Jack Sparrow. AND he’s so impressed by Trogdor’s majesty that you can actually see his words on film! Wow.
Jealous, and of course full of disdain, of Trogdor’s majesty Macbeth the Disdained attempted to slay him with his kinda big sword. He, of coursed failed disdainfully. He was simply pounded by the beefy, “HULK SMASH” screaming hands of the Burninator. Disdain!
Broken after his mighty battle with the fierce dragon with consummate V’s, Macbeth fell back with his witches (here played by Tana, Ashley, and Lindsay - of ‘Thompson Sandwich’ fame). However, they could do little for him as his reek was overpowering. Wow... Christian has little girly legs... that amuses me. Hopefully it does the same for you!
Seeing a pause in the festivities and an overall lack of violence, Capt. Jack Sparrow decided to start taking hostages. His plan was to grab the girl, then flee by using those stairs in the background. However, the door was locked, and besides, I doubt they led anywhere. We were in a pretty shady part of town. The abandoned warehouse district. Many criminals, rats and Mat lurking around in the darkness.
Abandoning his witches yet again, Macbeth seeks vengeance, only this time with some help from his trusty sidekick and fellow Scotsman, the UCCB Highlander. The Highlander’s sword being a far more impressive Man-Twainer than Macbeth’s kinda-big-sword, Macbeth eventually felt inadequate and also, remembering that he was full of disdain simply went back to Scotland and sat in his big furry chair for the rest of the evening. Also, he kept shouting to someone (who we can only assume was a figment of his own imagination) with the unfortunate name of Mr. Spilly-Pants. Nice tam by the way Macbeth... way better than, oh I dunno say, a friggin’ crown! Idiot.
We ended up winning the award for “Most Creative Design” for our float, which is pretty kickass. I was just happy to get to yell at people as they watched the float. I got many marriage proposals and wallets. Erin got told off when she went to “punch” some kid. Kristen kept switching stuff. Wesley fell off the float and was eaten by sharks (that’ll learn ya to not mention me on yer page!) And Christian continued to be disdainful and smelly.