This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Charlie Russell: Welcome to the Mischief Makers podcast. I'm your host, Charlie Russell, and this is the Thespians edition. I'm very happy to welcome our guest, Helen Griffiths. Hello, Helen.

[0:12] Helen Griffiths: Hi. Hi, how are you today?

[0:17] Charlie Russell: Yeah, very good. Thank you. Oh, very good. Now, please tell us what is your role in Thespians?

[0:21] Helen Griffiths: So I am the wardrobe supervisor for the tour of Thespians. I'm not involved in the design, but I'm involved in looking after everything that kind of runs costume-wise backstage and dressing as well.

[0:29] Charlie Russell: Dressing as well. So what's the difference? Like what does dressing entail?

[0:34] Helen Griffiths: It means quick changes. It means anything that's coming on and off stage. A lot of unzipping, re-zipping, and then the washing afterwards.

[0:39] Charlie Russell: And then the washing afterwards. That's a big job.

[0:45] Helen Griffiths: Yeah. It's a solo job as well. I imagine that's quite a lot of work.

[0:52] Charlie Russell: Unfortunately. And so for our listeners, like that's something that sometimes is done by a few different people, but on this tour you're doing all of it. And you're sort of prepping the costumes before the show starts, washing them, getting them ready, sorting them into everybody's dressing rooms. So you're really such an essential member of the crew.

[1:00] Helen Griffiths: Yeah.

[1:02] Charlie Russell: Okay. Well, it's very important then for the cast members to get on with you, I'm sure. We'll start by telling us, this is the first time you've worked with Mischief, am I right?

[1:10] Helen Griffiths: Yeah. But when did you first encounter Mischief?

[1:15] Helen Griffiths: I want to say before lockdown. I think it was like 2019, 2020. And it was all of the podcast and YouTube snippets that were floating about. I think it was like Mischief movie night. And then Play That Goes Wrong. And it was all out on iPlayer. And it was all just something to watch. And I got really into it. And I really enjoyed Peter Pan Goes Wrong, which is one of my favourites. And Christmas Carol Goes Wrong as well, with Jonathan Sayer, who was one of the writers. And it kind of spiralled from there. And I've been a bit madly obsessed ever since. Really? But I didn't really associate working with Mischief. It was never on the radar. It was never something that I thought, oh, I might end up working with Mischief.

But it just cropped up and it was an opportunity. And I just was like, I might never get this opportunity again. I really want to take it. So I feel very privileged to be working with Mischief. And yeah, it's been a bit of an inspiring journey, I guess, from watching it and then going straight into working for it for them.

[2:18] Charlie Russell: And so your favourite was Peter Pan Goes Wrong?

[2:22] Helen Griffiths: Yeah, definitely.

[2:24] Charlie Russell: What do you like the most about that?

[2:26] Helen Griffiths: I like the bunk beds. I like the crocodile, snap, snap. And then Christmas Carol, I really like the Jonathan Sayer, Get Out. You can't beat the Get Out.

[2:32] Charlie Russell: Oh, I know.

[2:34] Helen Griffiths: I think it's in Christmas Carol.

[2:36] Charlie Russell: Oh, no, Get Out, I believe, is in The Lodge, in the Goes Wrong show.

[2:40] Helen Griffiths: Yeah, You Sleb and Get Out, which is in the other one, yeah.

[2:43] Charlie Russell: That's right, You Sleb. Jonathan Sayer, of course, who wrote the book and co-wrote the lyrics for Thespians. Well, that's really exciting. I think there are lots of people who listen who are like fans of Mischief who work in the industry and don't necessarily know how to get either into working with Mischief or indeed actually getting into working with the industry in the first place. So could you tell us, so you work in wardrobe and costume. How did that journey begin for you in terms of coming into the theatre industry?

[3:07] Helen Griffiths: I wouldn't lie and say it's easy. It's not an easy journey. I started in textiles as my kind of way in. I didn't actually know that theatre and wardrobe and costume was actually an opportunity even way back when and when I was a student. I did textiles since I was about seven. I did it as a hobby. I did it with my grandma and then I sort of spiralled into this. It wasn't until I went to college that someone was like, you can do textiles as a career, as a job. But, you know, people do actually do things with their hands and sew and make things like, oh, OK, I can maybe do something with this. And there's a lot of behind the scenes stuff that I used to watch on DVDs and Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, for example.

And from there, I discovered that there was costume degrees I could go on and do once I got to college. And I sort of went into it from a kind of academic side in a way. But I don't think there's a right way and wrong way of getting in. I think obviously getting as much experience as possible is key, but I don't think you have to have a degree to get into costume. I think you can do workshops, you can do loads of amdrams, you can do panto work, you can do, you can work front of house and work back of house. It all sort of moves forward. As long as you're doing something in that field, you can definitely get into theatre that way. I don't think there's a right or wrong way.

[4:06] Charlie Russell: So tell me, you know, what are the basic skills maybe if someone's thinking they'd really like to connect their passion for textiles and making, and then connect that with their love of theatre? What are those basic skills that someone might really need to make sure they've honed if they want to, if they want to be able to bridge that gap?

[4:24] Helen Griffiths: Definitely be able to sew, even a minimal amount of sewing, even just sewing a button on is better than turning up to something and being like, I don't know what, you know, I don't know what I'm doing. Be able to sew a little bit of hand sewing is kind of a must. If you can machine sew, that's kind of useful, especially if something rips. Just having a little bit of an interest, even if you're not a massive crafter, having a little bit of interest in designing, making, it helps a lot.

[4:40] Charlie Russell: Because you're not, you didn't design this?

[4:42] Helen Griffiths: No.

[4:43] Charlie Russell: But would you, do you think, in the future?

[4:45] Helen Griffiths: I'm from a more, I like making more than designing. I don't aspire to be a designer. I like designing in a way, and I am doing a couple of designing jobs on the side, but it's not my, I don't want to end up being a costume designer. I'd rather be a costume supervisor or a costume, like, working assistant type thing.

[5:02] Charlie Russell: Yeah, that's so great. I think it's a classic for someone who doesn't know very much about that side of everything. I go, oh, doesn't everyone want to then just eventually be a designer? And that might feel quite, I don't know, like a lot of pressure for someone thinking, I'm not sure that's what I want. You can absolutely have a career in costume, but you don't have to feel like you need to be designing anything.

[5:20] Helen Griffiths: And a lot of people who are, a lot of young people think that that is what they should aspire to be. And there's actually a lot more jobs that are organising, making, you know, working, looking after things like dressing as well. Some people only want to be a dresser, and that's absolutely fine. It's nothing wrong with aspiring to be anything but a dresser. If that's what you want to do for 20, 30 years, great. And my goodness is a good dresser worth their weight in gold. I mean, I know as an actor, you know, when you've got somebody at the side of stage who helps you get in and out of those crazy costumes in a matter of minutes, it is invaluable.

[5:56] Charlie Russell: And also not just like how sort of skilled, but also the, you have to kind of develop your social skills in like, getting along with people.

[6:02] Helen Griffiths: A lot of interpersonal skills.

[6:04] Charlie Russell: Interpersonal skills.

[6:05] Helen Griffiths: Just being nice.

[6:06] Charlie Russell: Being nice.

[6:07] Helen Griffiths: Just be nice. A lot of people, you'll hear horror stories of dressers being absolutely awful, because it's quite an intermediate, you're in a very personal space, you're seeing someone get undressed. So you are in a very small bubble of like, you've got to get to know these people, you've got to be nice to them, you know, you've got to see them in a state of undress. And they come to you with personal problems as well. And you just have to kind of, sometimes not react, sometimes just literally get them changed and be like, yep, they're talking about something that's happening in their personal life, I'm not getting involved. Or you have to be a bit of a therapist and say, you're okay, you're fine, you've got your things, go, like, go on stage, go.

[7:02] Charlie Russell: Like a little bit of support.

[7:03] Helen Griffiths: Being a good dresser is actually quite a hard thing to do. I wouldn't say I'm amazing, but...

[7:09] Charlie Russell: I'm sure you're fantastic.

[7:11] Helen Griffiths: Like I said, if you want to be a dresser for 30 years, that's fantastic. I don't think you should be pressured to be anything that you don't really want to do.

[7:18] Charlie Russell: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I should also say that every actor needs to remember to be nice and kind to their dresser. It'll pay dividends.

[7:24] Helen Griffiths: Not all of them are.

[7:26] Charlie Russell: Don't take anything for granted. Do you have a sort of favourite costume or design in the show?

[7:31] Helen Griffiths: In The Thespians, there is three grape costumes.

[7:34] Charlie Russell: Grape costumes.

[7:36] Helen Griffiths: Grapes. Because there's a God of Grape and Wine, which is Dionysus, which I can never say correctly. So correct me if I'm wrong.

[7:43] Charlie Russell: You just did it, I think.

[7:45] Helen Griffiths: I can't even say sepsis. So there are three different stages of the costume. So the first one is handmade. It's the idea that Atlas, who is one of the side characters of our troupe, has handmade the costume. And then as the story progresses, there is another Dionysus costume, which is the same costume as before, but he's now gained wealth and he's now well known. He's got fans. They all love him. And it's more extravagant. It's like a whole sass, I guess, over his toga and it's full of grapes. And I just really like it. And it's got a big crown and he's got his You Shall Not Pass sort of staff that looks a bit like Gandalf with grapes on it. I really like that costume. I think that's one of my favourites. And then there's that third one, which we don't want to give it away for anyone who's going to watch. The third one is the Adonis costume, which is also grape themed, but I don't want to say too much about it because it's very good. It's very funny.

[8:38] Charlie Russell: It comes in act two, about halfway through. Sort of another example, I think, we've talked about this a lot on the podcast, that you've got the people who write the shows and then the actors making a load of comedy. But how integral design and costume, set design and costume design and the making of the costume is to delivering comedic moments.

[9:00] Helen Griffiths: Without you, did you know, in the play that goes wrong, this is a weird fact, we had to workshop the red dress over and over again to make sure that it fell just the right way so that the knickers were always slightly revealed, but not too much. I mean, that element of things, is that different from when you've worked on another show? You know, with Mischief, you have to think of these weird sort of, it has another job to do.

[9:20] Helen Griffiths: I think on this, for the whole time I've been on the tour with Suspense, I've always associated with panto because there's just such a panto feel about it. But I think I say that because it's, like you say, it's got to have this comedic effect. It's got to have this, something's got to fall off, something's got to work a certain way, and especially with costume on set as well. So like, with the three great costumes, there's a degree of comedy in that.

[9:40] Charlie Russell: Yeah, it really adds to it. You'll find out if you watch it. Again, I don't want to spoil it too much, but yeah, the Adonis costume is very pivotal to, he needed that costume to play that comedic effect, as well as what Mark Pickering does really well. He uses his kind of acting skills, but also the costume has a lot to do with that being hilarious.

[10:00] Helen Griffiths: And what he says is also hilarious.

[10:02] Charlie Russell: Yeah, and then there's these moments where, it's quite early on, I don't think there's too much where, you know, things have to fall down or things have to fall out of costume.

[10:10] Helen Griffiths: Yes, I love how that's made.

[10:12] Charlie Russell: I wish I could do a whole thing on how that's made. It's fantastic. I think maybe, look, if we're not allowed to include it, we'll cut it. So there's a moment in the show where apples need to appear to fall from a character.

[12:20] Helen Griffiths: Underpants. Yeah, because he's been stuffing his loincloth with apples to make himself look more well-endowed.

[12:27] Charlie Russell: How do you make that work so they are not falling? They're not everyone thinks they're in his waistband. They're not actually in his waistband. Are they in his pants? They're not in his pants.

[12:40] Helen Griffiths: So, I think I want to say it's our props department. I don't know, it was a collaboration between the props and costume department. Initially, when he did rehearsals, it was a running backpack, a running vest with one zip in it. But they took the zip out and it sort of had a flap in it, and there are three apples that fall through the running backpack. Then when they made it into the costume, it became another backpack. It looks like, I always think of it as when we were little, we made like pop bottle base rockets. Yeah, it looks like that, and there's two sort of tennis ball tube type things on his back, and it's zipped into like a vest, and there are three apples at one time placed in one side and there's two apples in another side.

When Mark comes to pull his, there's like two little tabs at the bottom, so Mark will reach behind his back, pull the two tabs or pull one tab depending on which side it's coming out of, and it'll drop to the floor. And he sometimes did a little comet shake; sometimes it didn't always come out. Yeah, sometimes he'll shake, but it's literally underneath the cape, which is why he has a cape on his back. That's why he has a cape on his back annoyingly. He does, again, it might spoil the show, but he doesn't do a trush fall, and annoyingly he does three trush falls in the show and has to fall on top of apples, which are quite painful. So poor Mark has a very poor back at the moment because he's literally falling on top of apples, and they're made of like a bean bag. Yeah, so that they fall nicely. So if you've ever seen him throwing them off stage, you can hear a little thud.

[14:17] Charlie Russell: Do you know, I watched it last night and he'd kicked it off stage, but it didn't quite go into the wings.

[14:21] Helen Griffiths: Yeah, was it your hand? I saw.

[14:24] Charlie Russell: It was Holly.

[14:26] Helen Griffiths: Holly's our wonderful technician. Holly had to grab the apples. I cut the foot, which also gets fun. I cut the foot in a washing basket. That's another fun behind the scenes. You'll never see it, but I cut the foot in a washing basket.

[14:38] Charlie Russell: Is that so that is that because it's easier for him to aim to and it also doesn't make a noise? It's a bit of fun.

[14:46] Helen Griffiths: There you go. It's just a bit of fun. Well, that's it. I always remember that there's always games of like people backstage catching things, chucking. I used to have to chuck the acorn in a pan over the back of the set. Yeah, and particularly on Broadway, live would be there every day, and that you developed over time. I didn't even know this, that live would have like one of those baseball mitts sometimes wear a costume to try and catch it. It was ridiculous because obviously...

[15:20] Charlie Russell: But yeah, it's a washing basket.

[15:26] Helen Griffiths: That's so amazing. It started recently, but now we can't stop doing it. It happens in shows with these like little moments that develop over time and become a silly game, and as long as it obviously doesn't affect the show, it really helps with the tour, doesn't it?

[15:37] Charlie Russell: Yeah, yeah, because you got like annoyingly you do get bored after a while. Ten weeks you do start to get a little like, you know, head or before. It's kind of like, oh, what can I do to kind of make this show a little bit different? So there's always little tiny things you can tweak without affecting the show that we do backstage that we just sort of try and keep our spirits high and don't feel so tired. And yeah, so yeah, that's one of our things.

[16:04] Helen Griffiths: I love that. I love that. So, okay. I know something else that you do. Okay, I've heard, so obviously your job is mega and you have to... Do you have to go to a dressing room and you pick up all the costumes? I mean, I know this sort of as an actor, but describing to other people who are listening, you know, you're getting the costumes at the end of the day or you're putting them in there at the beginning of the day.

[16:30] Charlie Russell: Tell me about your way of incentivizing tidiness. I'm going to have to do this on every single show that I do from now on, aren't I?

[16:39] Helen Griffiths: Yeah, well, it actually started, but I've done Panto for five years, and we used to do it with the kids in Panto, which are also called Jeeves, and we used to do this thing of like if you tidy your room every single show, your dressing room, we will give you a prize at the end. And normally because it's Panto, and Panto people cover your ears because this is a little spoiler for you, but you'll get a chocolate Santa at the end of it. But for this one, I thought, you know what, I'm going to try doing it again because it's only me, and if you don't have an assistant, it's really difficult to actually carry on like keeping everything tidy, keeping everything right, you know, how do you like it?

It's not your job to tidy the dressing room; it's not my job to tidy the dressing room, and I didn't want to mother them, which I'm borderline doing with a couple of the cast members. So in order to kind of keep myself happy, I designed the dressing room awards. There is a prize at the end of it. I'm not going to say what the prize is because I might be listening, but it's basically a little door plaque. I got it from saying for, it's very cheap, and on it, it's just a dressing award. This can only be awarded by wardrobe, and it moves every day a bit like the Elf on a Shelf, and it goes to someone who has cleared their kind of table enough that I can put the tray down. They don't have to have a really tidy dressing room; they just have to have a space where I can put their tray with their underwear and their mic belts and all that sort of stuff on the desk, and if it's not that tidy, they never win.

And at the moment, we have a tally system going, so you're, it's not just every day like so you're putting the award in that day who wins, but you're also counting how many times different people win.

[18:22] Charlie Russell: Yeah, and then at the end of it, there'll be a like an initial prize, a good prize.

[18:29] Helen Griffiths: So tell us who's at the top of the leaderboard so far.

[18:34] Charlie Russell: At the moment, it's Ashley. Ashley's been in the way for a long time. She's very tidy.

[18:40] Helen Griffiths: But Ashley and Ali share a dressing room, so it's been quite difficult to kind of differentiate between the two, like which one's the tidier. I mean, that means that Ali's quite good because I shared a dressing room with Ashley during Comedy About Spies, and I can tell you you would have been able to tell the difference. I actually put a little bit of tape across so that I would stop my mess from seeping into her area because I felt so bad. She was so tidy.

[19:10] Charlie Russell: There's been some bribery.

[19:14] Helen Griffiths: Bribery? Yeah, I've been bribed by James. Play sexist had bribed me once in court after he decided to leave a cookie.

[19:19] Charlie Russell: Did it work?

[19:26] Helen Griffiths: Yeah, bribery. Do it. He left a cookie out, and he left a note to say, "Helen, take a cookie. I hope this doesn't influence the award."

[19:35] Charlie Russell: On that particular day.

[19:38] Helen Griffiths: Now, now he thinks it's bribery, but actually on that particular day he had tidied up, and it was tidy. Like it was, I could put stuff down.

[19:45] Charlie Russell: The worst person? No.

[19:47] Helen Griffiths: It's going to shock you. It's Matt.

[19:55] Charlie Russell: No.

[19:55] Helen Griffiths: Yeah, not Cavendish. Mark Cavendish has only won it once. And also, Matt only has a very limited amount of stuff. On one occasion, he hadn't even got his personals out of the personal box. Still didn't win. He just, it's just messy. It's just a very messy. I didn't know that. I knew he was messy, but like...

[20:11] Charlie Russell: Yeah, oh my goodness. Mark Pickering had not won it at all.

[20:19] Helen Griffiths: Oh, okay. So actually, he's got one. He's on the board. It just might not win. Matt's on the board. That's really hard in Manchester. He's going to have to win every single day to be Ashley.

[20:30] Charlie Russell: No, she's made me more tidy when we shared a dressing room, but it was still pathetic compared to her desk. It was incredible.

[20:37] Helen Griffiths: That's fantastic. And also, again, one of those things where you're like just having a lot of fun as you go along.

[20:43] Charlie Russell: Fresh. Yeah, fresh. I mean, you know, theater is meant to be fun, and there's so much going on in the world, isn't it? That's so serious. I think we might, we're lucky to be doing it. Let's enjoy our jobs.

[20:59] Helen Griffiths: Okay, so now you might email may not know this, but Thespians is the first musical that Mischief has done. Yeah, can you remember the first musical that you ever saw?

[21:11] Charlie Russell: I've come from quite a musical background. I mean, my mom and I have always been in theater or ballet. Ballet was the first thing I ever saw.

[21:21] Helen Griffiths: Oh, really? What was your first ballet?

[21:26] Charlie Russell: So I want to say, which one? Like, wow, it might have been the film regarded. I can't remember. I've seen a lot of Berman Royal Ballet's. They used to do, used to tour quite close to me in Sunderland. I don't do it anymore, and yeah, you should watch them nearly every year. It used to be like a birthday treat.

[21:38] Helen Griffiths: Oh, um, but my first one I think was Chicago. Was the first day I probably thought it was a proper, proper musical, Chicago in the West End.

[21:47] Charlie Russell: How old were you?

[21:50] Helen Griffiths: 13.

[21:52] Charlie Russell: Quite young for 13.

[21:52] Helen Griffiths: And about murder. I don't remember a lot of like a lot of what happened. I just remember a lot of ladders because I was a really good set design, and there were loads of ladders. And yeah, I just really, I really, really enjoyed it, and I came away and I was like, this is really like, this is what I wanted, not what I want to do, but this is really like inspiring. And I went on to watch Phantom and lots and lots of musicals just sort of spiral from there.

[22:15] Charlie Russell: And would you say, I think we were chatting earlier, Phantom is your favorite?

[22:21] Helen Griffiths: Phantom is my favorite.

[22:21] Charlie Russell: What makes Phantom so special for you?

[22:27] Helen Griffiths: I think there's just so many bits where you think you know what's going to happen, and then it surprises you. My mum's seen it a lot more times than I have. She actually saw Michael Crawford in Phantom, which she always kind of goes about. But when we had to see, I think I was 15 or 16. My mum has always sort of seen, I've never seen it, but I've seen the film, and we treated me and we went to see it, and she's like, are you, you think you'll know what happened? You think you want to happen? No, no, I'm going to watch it. There's one particular moment, and it didn't spoil Phantom for anyone who hadn't seen it, but there's a bit where he's, and I'm always watching theater in a sort of where the quick change happening.

Yeah, when they run off stage, I'm like, all right, he's going to a quick change now and going to come back on. And there's a bit when a phantom disappears behind the mirror, obviously, but he came out in the gods, and he must have been standing there for like 10 minutes in the dark. Obviously, there's no spotlight on him. And we were in the gods because we always sit in the gods. We like being up high. Wow, and he was level with us, and he'd sung called "All That Gives You." I think, I mean, he was at the top of the theater, and I went, how did he get like how? I mean, I was on the edge of my seat, and I was like, how did we get that? Like how was he at the top of the theater? And then Scott can't obviously climb back down again and carry on the performance. So yeah, it's always been a bit of like, I don't know how that happened, but it happened.

[23:56] Charlie Russell: I can hear that you're quite interested in particularly the mechanics of making theater magic happen. Has that always been quite interesting to you?

[24:06] Helen Griffiths: Always, always. I've always wanted to know how did I do that? Like how did I make a play that goes wrong go wrong? How do they make it go right? You know, how if it was, you know, stuff like that. I've always been interested in quick changes and how they can go from this to this, and there's a lot of Instagram reels now where, you know, what's your frozen dress? How did it come off? How does it go on? There's one recently which is Wizard of Oz, I think it's in Australia, where she goes from brown dress to blue dress, and it's a fantastic little reel. I don't know a lot about it, but stuff like that, I'm like, how did I do it? Like how do they?

[24:40] Helen Griffiths: Theater life, because a lot of theatre isn't... there's no... there's nothing to hide behind. You've got to... it's live, you know, and you've got to make it work live. If it didn't work, it didn't work. But you've got to... quick changes have to happen. They are a quick change, whereas in film you could just pause the camera, reset, go again. Yeah, there's the jeopardy of it. There's always been that element of theatre that's always excited me by how did that happen and how did they make that... do that thing. Sometimes it's like a washing up liquid with blood in it. Even that is just like, how? Why? You know, it worked, but how? I mean, you must have enjoyed the quick changes in Peter Pan Goes Wrong. I'm sure Nancy deserves some kind of award. Like, the speed of those things.

[25:34] Helen Griffiths: But it's what happened. In the real... and it doesn't go wrong. It really happened. We are behind a door. We are changing someone and we are putting them back on stage. That is what happened. So in that respect, Peter Pan Goes Wrong does explain the backstage roles as well. You know, with Trevor and it does sort of have a nice little nod to what we actually do. We don't get seen and that's the joy of it. Backstage people don't really get seen.

[26:02] Charlie Russell: And you're okay with that?

[26:04] Helen Griffiths: In a way, yeah. I don't really like being front and centre. I don't really like being on stage. I've always wanted to be behind something.

[26:10] Charlie Russell: Do you come on for the curtain call?

[26:13] Helen Griffiths: Yeah.

[26:14] Charlie Russell: How do you find that?

[26:15] Helen Griffiths: It's weird because a lot of the times you're being told by the cast and a lot of cast do this. They always say, oh, the audience is good tonight or the audience is not good tonight. You don't believe them until you get out there. And then sometimes we walk out on stage and I always look up. I always look at the top level of the balcony and then I look down. And sometimes you look down and it's like, where are the people? Sometimes it's really patchy and you don't know where to put your eyes. So yeah, it's a bit odd. But I actually like that. I think more theatres should do it. I think we should be exposed in a way. We should be brought out. And I know Annie does it and I know a couple of other theatres do it now where they bring on as many people who are actually available.

[27:01] Helen Griffiths: Yeah. And who wants to as well.

[27:03] Charlie Russell: And who want to do it. We don't like to force anyone to do it, but it is nice to give the audience a moment to appreciate the people, like you said, actually, who made those incredible theatre magic moments happen. That people like yourself in an audience are thinking, how did it happen? Who did that? Because I'm an actor and obviously I've watched going, I want to go on there and be in the middle and do that scene or act like that. But actually there are people in the audience going, I'm really intrigued and keen to be behind stage making this show happen. And unless we show the audience, the people who are doing that, they might not understand like, know how to make that route. And it's sort of that connection. Hopefully, I could do that job. We think that drama, GCC or any level, you need to then want to be an actor. But actually, there are so many jobs in theatre.

[27:55] Helen Griffiths: Yeah. And I think with thespians, when we come out on stage, people realise how small we are. I think they realise how small the band is. They realise how small the actual tech department is. We've got Elle in the background, who does sound, who doesn't come on stage because they're on sound, but they are back in the audience. And then when we come on stage, there's only about four or five of us. And that is actually the reality. There's only actually about seven of us in the tech crew. And then obviously the band, there's only, I think there's only four or five. So we are a very small group. And I think that someone mentioned to me, I think it was back in Colchester, like, you really are a small team. So I think that that puts it in perspective a little bit. I think that's actually quite good that people see us on the stage and go, oh, actually, there's only like a handful of people making this happen. And then hopefully there's a bit more appreciation for it.

[28:49] Charlie Russell: I hope so too.

[28:50] Helen Griffiths: Yeah, I think that's what's really interesting about it.

[28:53] Charlie Russell: Wow. OK, you can give us now. Firstly, we'll go through some quick fire questions. What's the funniest wardrobe malfunction we've had in Vespians? Obviously, we know it goes right most of the time, but it wouldn't be mischief if something didn't go well.

[29:10] Helen Griffiths: So there are two things that went wrong. One of them was quite a disaster. It happened just before the show. I don't think anyone noticed, I hope. So the zip broke on Mia's dress.

[29:23] Charlie Russell: On Mia's dress. Oh, I remember hearing about this.

[29:25] Helen Griffiths: And it was quite tragic. And I think we delayed the show quite a bit because we were fixing it. And it ended up fixing with a piece of fabric and a lot of Kimble guns.

[29:39] Charlie Russell: Kimble guns, yeah.

[29:40] Helen Griffiths: I hate Kimble guns. I've been Kimble gunned into things before. I think one of the jokes I have with Rhys, who plays a tyrant, is everybody in the show has been Kimble gunned into something at least once. And I think that's actually true. You're not a real actor unless you've been Kimble gunned into something. Poor Rhys has been Kimble gunned into their jumpsuit twice, I think.

[30:02] Charlie Russell: Oh, but that cost him so much.

[30:04] Helen Griffiths: Once was in Colchester. And then again, I think in Bath, it happened as well. And then the one that happened last night, I didn't see it. I didn't clock it. So I initially thought that Matt Cavendish's trousers were just ripped at the crotch because there was a little hole.

[30:21] Charlie Russell: Like a clasp.

[30:22] Helen Griffiths: Yeah. So the clasp has come off and I fixed that. But what actually happened is Matt had ripped his undergarment. So he was exposing himself for most of the show.

[30:34] Charlie Russell: Can we just clarify, not his actual underwear. He wasn't exposing his skin.

[30:40] Helen Griffiths: No, his trousers. His trousers had ripped at the crotch. And I've got to fix it today as well. It's got quite a big gap. And at one point, I remember saying to him yesterday, halfway through the show, he, again, not really a spoiler, but hopefully you all know when it happened. There's a bit where he lies on the floor. And I just said, did you close your legs when you laid on the floor? Because I was a bit worried that the person in the front row will have seen right up there. And he came off and he's like, I think I did. Well, hopefully you didn't show off your pants.

[31:17] Charlie Russell: At least he was wearing pants.

[31:18] Helen Griffiths: So yeah, that's probably the biggest wardrobe malfunction. It's not a massive rip, but obviously when he's moving around, you can see a flash of white.

[31:26] Charlie Russell: A little flash of white.

[31:27] Helen Griffiths: A little flash of white.

[31:28] Charlie Russell: Of his pants. Well, let's just say a good lesson for all actors, make sure you've got your show pants on.

[31:34] Helen Griffiths: He did have his show pants on. So that was good.

[31:36] Charlie Russell: Oh, it's happened to me. In Peter Pan Goes Wrong, I forgot to put on the show pants. The costume, purple pants. So when my nightdress was ripped off me, and I go, oh my goodness. And I go, I check my top half and then I check my bottom half and I felt that I didn't have the show pants on. But of course I had my, I didn't have the costume pants on, but I had my own show pants on. They were, no, they were not. They were purple. And then over the top of that, I had two pairs of tights. So I think it looked like we were saying there was some kind of Barbie situation going on. But I think because my underwear was purple, it looked more like knickers. Then actually a lot of the time I wear my flesh toned underwear as show pants and that would have looked like I maybe wasn't wearing anything at all.

We have a bunch of like white shorts. Well, there's more time at the moment because we don't put white shorts in with tights. It didn't end up well. That happened as well. But yeah, they're sort of white shorts that they wear underneath their costumes. Fun fact for you.

[32:45] Helen Griffiths: A fun fact, they're wearing little white shorts.

[32:47] Charlie Russell: Yeah.

[32:48] Helen Griffiths: Okay. Did have his show pants on, but yeah, someone in the audience said, I think there's a hole in his trousers.

[32:53] Charlie Russell: Yeah, there is. Wasn't it your CSM's mother?

[32:57] Helen Griffiths: Yeah, it was.

[32:59] Charlie Russell: Okay. Give us now, think about thespians. What's the first word that comes to mind?

[33:06] Helen Griffiths: Madness.

[33:07] Charlie Russell: Madness.

[33:08] Helen Griffiths: Yeah. It's a little bit mad.

[33:10] Charlie Russell: On or off or both stage?

[33:12] Helen Griffiths: Both. Yeah. I don't think we really sit down. You're constantly thinking about it. Even when you're off, not really working, you're constantly thinking about, I've got to fix that or I've got to do that or I've got to make sure that works or I've got to wash that or yeah, there's always something. But I love it. I don't hate it. It's just, it's absolutely mad.

[33:34] Charlie Russell: Yeah.

[33:34] Helen Griffiths: And there is no, when people ask like, what's it about? I'm like, well, it's like a pantomime, but it's not a pantomime. It's a musical, but it's not a musical. And it's not the play that goes wrong. Because everyone thinks when they think of Mystic, they always think, oh, what goes wrong in it then? If it goes wrong, we've done something wrong.

[34:08] Charlie Russell: Okay. And then this is a question I've asked everyone so far, because obviously it's all about Ancient Greece. Ancient Greece had gods of everything. We have the god of grape and wine. If you were a god of anything in the world, what would you like to be the god of?

[34:23] Helen Griffiths: This is really hard.

[34:26] Charlie Russell: It's a hard question.

[34:27] Helen Griffiths: It is hard. It's funny because I always work, I like working with my hands. I don't always make something on fidgeting or crocheting or sewing. All I work in theatre and wardrobe, I'm always sewing, crocheting. I have that hobby on the side. I just never really stop. I think something to do with crochet.

[34:47] Charlie Russell: The god of crochet.

[34:49] Charlie Russell: Yeah. It's definitely not going wrong.

[34:49] Helen Griffiths: Yeah.

[34:50] Charlie Russell: Oh my goodness. I love that. Okay. I know crochet is a whole thing. People crochet all sorts. What's your proudest crochet achievement?

[34:51] Helen Griffiths: It's meant to go right. The jokes are different. It's a different style, isn't it? Where the jokes are like on purpose and we're not playing, well, I'm not in it, but the actors are not playing actors putting on a musical. They are playing Thespis and Atlas and Melampus.

[35:04] Helen Griffiths: Well, I'm making pineapples.

[35:06] Charlie Russell: What?

[35:07] Helen Griffiths: I'm crocheting pineapples.

[35:09] Charlie Russell: You're crocheting pineapples.

[35:11] Helen Griffiths: Pineapples. So I'm doing a craft fair next week. I've been planning for a while and I'm making a lot of stuff for that. But in this show particularly, there is a lot of references to pineapples.

[35:25] Charlie Russell: There are.

[35:26] Helen Griffiths: And so I started, well, originally I continued to make some crochet pineapples whilst I was sitting around in the theatre. And then I went, you know what? Let's make a really good wrap gift. Like end of show gift. Everyone's getting a crochet pineapple. And I have made them all and they're all ready to go.

[35:44] Charlie Russell: Oh my goodness. You've done it already. That's amazing.

[35:46] Helen Griffiths: So at one point, I think I made 16 in one week.

[35:49] Charlie Russell: 16 crocheted pineapples in one week.

[35:51] Helen Griffiths: They're not very big.

[35:52] Charlie Russell: How big are they?

[35:53] Helen Griffiths: Yeah. So we're talking like, like the height of like a head, a face.

[35:58] Charlie Russell: They're small.

[35:59] Helen Griffiths: They're small.

[36:00] Charlie Russell: You can hold them in your hand.

[36:01] Helen Griffiths: You can hold on in your hand. Okay, fine. Fine. Not, not novelty sized. Everyone's like, what are you making? Like, nothing. Nothing for you. Nothing for you.

[36:11] Charlie Russell: No, no, no.

[36:12] Helen Griffiths: Well, I'm sure those crocheted pineapples will be very much appreciated. Thank you so much for coming on the show today and chatting to me. It's been fascinating and enlightening and very fun.

[36:20] Charlie Russell: Good luck with the rest of the run. You've got sort of two and a half weeks left now.

[36:27] Helen Griffiths: Yep.

[36:28] Charlie Russell: Manchester to finish.

[36:29] Helen Griffiths: Nearly done.

[36:30] Charlie Russell: That's very exciting.

[36:31] Helen Griffiths: Yeah.

[36:32] Charlie Russell: Well, thank you so much.

[36:33] Helen Griffiths: Thank you.

[36:34] Charlie Russell: And to everyone listening, thank you so much for listening. I'll speak to you soon. Bye.

[36:38] Helen Griffiths: Okay, cut the speak to you soon bit. That's weird.

[36:43] Charlie Russell: Bye bye.

[36:46] Helen Griffiths: I can't ever end these things.

[36:48] Charlie Russell: Bye bye now.

[36:49] Helen Griffiths: Goodbye.

[36:50] Charlie Russell: Bye bye now.

[36:53] Helen Griffiths: That'll be perfect. That's it.