Upstage Production's depiction of The Mouse That Roared starts this evening at the EA Rawlinson Centre. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

The Mouse That Roared

Cast and crew ‘ready to serve it up’ in the Mouse That Roared

May 11, 2022 | 12:37 PM

It’s been a few years since the actors from École St. Mary’s Upstage Productions have performed on a larger stage, but this year’s group is ready.

This is the first time many have performed outside the school theatre, which means an increase in nerves, said director Jason Van Otterloo.

“It’s kind of like a crock pot. It’s like you’ve put all the ingredients in and it’s been cooking for the last four days, so, they’re ready to serve it up,” said Van Otterloo.

Given the situation, there are fewer veterans in the group.

“We’ve got a lot of kids that are pretty new to this. Normally, in a regular year, I would add 15 new kids but this year, I only have eight kids that have any experience,” he said.

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The Mouse That Roared is a Cold War era satirical look at politics and war. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

Thanks to an intensive practice schedule that started in February, he feels the students have stepped up and all will go well.

“We’ve got a pretty green but now I would say pretty competent group that have, through the work they’ve put in the last couple of months, really, exponentially grown in how much they’ve learned and how much they put together and got ready for this,” Van Otterloo said.

The Mouse That Roared is a Cold War era satirical look at politics and war. (Susan McNeil/paNOW staff)

It was November when the school chose the spring production and COVID was still making life unpredictable, so they chose to not do a musical like they normally would in the spring.

The cast is 26 people and the backstage crew has 19, something that allows for as many interested students as possible to sign up.

Given the mental health impacts of COVID, Van Otterloo also wanted to focus on humour rather than a more serious plot.

“With COVID going on in the world I also said man, we kind of need to do something that’s funny,” he said. “So this is a comedy that also is one of those things that’s, yeah, we want to do something light, fun and energetic.”

The Mouse That Roared is a Cold War era satirical look at politics and war. (Susan McNeil/paNOW staff)

To find the cast, auditions were done at the school and roles assigned based on which actor best suited each part.

Any student in the school can audition and there are no separate drama classes by grade.

Choosing the tech crew is more along the lines of a job interview, Van Otterloo explained.

“What sort of experience do you have, what do you get out of it? Things they would get asked if they were looking to do theatre in other places,” he said. “They also learn that’s the step they would go through outside of our building.”

If they were doing a musical like they normally do in the spring, there would be another 15 band members and between eight and 10 teachers also helping.

The Mouse That Roared is a Cold War era satirical look at politics and war. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

The money made from selling tickets goes towards the next year’s shows, so the program is virtually self-sufficient.

Tickets can be purchased online or at the box office.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow