h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Little has just spent a week at theatre school during the half-term and got the part of Dandy Dan again. It was a very much condensed version - just half an hour. Much more dancing than speech. I've just been to see him and really enjoyed it. This time he did have a moustache and his trousers weren't as loose, so he didn't have to spend time hoicking them up. It was good fun.

for Little

Did he enjoy it more than the longer version? I'm sure he was relieved his trousers weren't falling down this time

I'm now not sure what he thought as his feelings have been affected by something that happened after the event. Roy gave him a treat (a chew or something similar) and when little didn't say 'Thank you' and appeared to want something else as well, Roy took the treat away. Little was upset and said he felt that the production wasn't as good as the school play, didn't want anything to eat for supper, felt that he didn't deserve his pocket money and went to bed upset.

In some ways it was a little better than the school play, in other ways not. However, the school play had had a lot of time spent on it - much more than a week.

I did notice that little was a bit like a curate's egg - confident in parts, needing reassurance in others and a bit jerky in his dance movements. However with a bit of work, I'm sure that could be rectified.

I was proud of him. I thought he did well.

Artistes are often their harshest critics. I know my little FaceCloth was before he became a full grown towel.

He got great roles, including Ebeneezer and Marley's Ghost, Willie Wonka, Daddy Warbuck, and Hamlet among others. Always dazzled the audience, but was often miffed at the fuss when he thought he might have done better.

I think he's finally a little more accepting of small errors and looks more at the bigger picture of a performance, more of a holistic approach.

Just keep reminding the little fry that perfection not expected and may often be unattainable. Settling for close is not 'settling'.

That's very true, Fords. Little is very self-critical and has been for a long time. I just feel sorry that his evening was spoiled by what was really such a minor thing. He was upset all evening and crying when he went to bed. I know at least one of the other kids' mothers thought he was good enough to go to acting school and suggested one that he might get a scholarship from.

I'm going to ask about the the Easter holiday schemes. There will be two running, I think - one for each week. Not sure what the productions will be.

Hopefully the building will have its alterations to the roof done, so they will be able to use their stage lighting. Because they couldn't use their stage lights, some of the action was in shadow, which was a bit of a shame.

What a shame that he didn't feel he'd done so well. He will have been tired and excited too of course, when emotions are always close to the surface. Was he more content the next morning?

Not particularly, Fb - he was still thinking about the chew bar that he lost by not saying 'Thank you' for it. That seems to have coloured his whole perception of it. Given that it happened so soon after the performance, I don't know what his reaction to it would have been otherwise.

He had told me that he didn't think the boy who played Bugsy Malone didn't deserve to play him - and funnily enough, in his first couple of lines where he should have said, 'My name's Bugsy, Bugsy Malone', he said, 'My name's ... my name's ...' and hea really had to think before saying 'Bugsy ... Bugsy Malone'. In contrast, one of the boy's at little 's school was really outstanding and the other one was adequate.

And I think he got a couple of the dance steps wrong (he didn't have to do dancing in the school's version), which bothered him. He was no different to any of the other kids, so he didn't stand out as being particularly clumsy.

All in all, it might do him well to know that there are others who are just as self-critical, and that it doesn't really do much to help them get better so much as bash their own self-esteem.

A more pro-active stance might be to list what they think went wrong and what things went right, kind of an After Action Review. Venting can be very therapeutic and help them to understand that mistakes are the things that help them learn and grow. Discussing what went right reinforces their self worth.

Good idea, Fords - thanks. I did speak with him the next day, and whilst he was still self-critical, he was not as much so.

You're right about venting, though.

It's not put him of acting as he wants to be put down for the Easter courses and I would have booked him in for them today, had I realised that my chequebook had run out of cheques and put the new one in. Embarrassingly, it meant that I couldn't pay for my next set of trumpet lessons which were due today. Luckily, they are letting me pay next week - they told me they don't think I'm going to run away.

If you don't pay, they'll send the boys around to tie your trumpet into a knot!

As I've been with them since September - and often my tutor is a good 15 minutes late starting the class - I think they'll cut me some slack.

Mind you, if they did that to my trumpet, Roy would do that to me, I'm sure as it's really *his* trumpet.1

My teacher taught me double tonguing yesterday and I've started to learn the 'Carnival of Venice', which was *the* piece I've wanted to learn almost from the beginning.

Carnival of Venice, also known as "My hat it has three corners". My brother could sing that in six different languages.

Which six?

I didn't know that Carnival of Venice was known as 'my hat has three corners' . I first tried it a few minutes before my class, and when I told my tutor, he said I could have a go at it. He said that there were bits in it which were like a male partner whirling his female partner round. I really liked the image.

Six languages? I didn't know you could sing it in one - I only know it as a trumpet or violin tune with tricky variations.