Last Tuesday, 28 March, the Year 11 Drama class presented scenes from various phases of Theatre History. The night was a tremendous learning experience for all. The boys had to learn two scenes each, off by heart!
For some of our students this was the first time they had performed in front of a public audience, so the nerves were high, but that helped to push the boys to achieve their best. We also had brand new VET Entertainment students helping out at the event. Thank you to Sebastian Blowers who ran the audio desk and Zac Summer-Hayes, who looked after the haze machine, a special lighting effect and the cast backstage.
I am very proud of the actors who put in their best effort with their performances. Some of them played stock characters such as a villain, a villain’s sidekick, heroine and hero from the Victorian Melodrama era. Others played mechanics from a shipbuilder’s guild during Medieval times, putting on a Bible story.
In a contemporary setting, it was interesting for the boys to see how men during that age treated women. Noah was bossy and domineering with his wife, and her sons had higher status than her. The boys tried to address this imbalance by injecting humour into the performance, for example, one of the sons became a simpleton and used slapstick comedy to bump into the set, to have “lost” his costume, etc.
The boys all performed a scene from David Williamson’s The Club. Those scenes were so fabulous, I’m inspired to put on the production as a school play one day!
I believe that this showcase evening really built growth in the actors and VET Entertainment students who worked on the show, due to all the technical demands of the sets, lights and audio effects. The boys were also assessed on the evening by Mr Peter Lamb. Thank you to him, Ms Kossenburg and Mr Wasef who all helped with the event.
I am one lucky teacher who gets to work with such talented, generous, passionate and inspiring Drama students every day.
