An email out of the blue from Antony Johns, choreographer and costumier to the stars https://www.antonyjohns.co.uk/ was the start of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for myself and my team, inviting me to create the makeup for the week-long show, A Gallop Through History, at Windsor Castle opening The Queens Platinum Jubilee celebrations. We had such a blast, working hard and fast but able to enjoy the incredible sights around us at the Horse of the Year Show during the day and then making up The Queens Players, a troupe of 30 actors playing characters from history including Queen Elizabeth I, Scott of the Antarctic, Sir Walter Raleigh, Titania from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and many more.
I pulled together a stellar team to work alongside me, Tabby, Leandro, Hannah, Tashie and Sam (see my previous TEAMKATE blog below) and my partner Jay James, Team Co-Ordinator. The two hour-long show was performed over five nights in front of 4,000 people in the arena and members of the Royal Family and invited guests and then finally on the last night to Her Majesty The Queen and aired live on ITV across the UK. We were disappointed that the TV show wasn’t as amazing as the live the show - celebrity guests and presenters required more airtime than our actors!
I loved working with Louise Gold, my Queen Elizabeth I, Omid Djalili who presented each night with Alan Titchmarsh MBE but it was also secretly exciting meeting Tom Cruise, Katherine Jenkins OBE, Keala Settle and the other stars, but for TeamKate the real stars of the show were our amazing actors, The Queens Players!
