Alissia Bevan - The Founder

14 The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
E X T R A
Film/Arts
A Dramatic Introduction
Emily Simpson
President 09-10
They don’t make ‘em
like they used to
» continued from page 11
film student Hannah Temple. The
editing style at the time of Welles
and Frank Capra (director of ‘It
Happened One Night’) was very audience-friendly,
allowing the viewer
an easy insight into the character
that differs distinctly from the challenges
of some more modern directors.
“[The visual style] minimised
the need for us to puzzle things
out,” says Miss Temple. “It’s not like,
say, a Tarantino, where you have to
do a lot of thinking yourself...it’s a
tight visual narrative.’
A term for this atmosphere is The
Invisible Style, which defines “the
director’s deliberate choice to make
everything seamless.” Continues
Miss Temple: “It all flows because
what’s important is the romance or
the comedy; what’s happening onscreen.”
This style might have been
what prompted Spielberg to shoot
his modern classic, Schindler’s List,
in black-and-white, in an effort to
instil into it a timeless ideal.
This collective tone of the old
movies can be transferred across
through the genres, as we can see if
we turn in particular to one of the
most ageless horror movie classics,
‘Psycho’. With a director behind it
who was labelled the ‘master of suspense’,
and an ambience maintained
throughout which may have lost its
appeal had the movie been created
in colour, it is no wonder that
‘Psycho’ remains one of the most
well-loved examples of its genre to
date.
In addition to the atmosphere of
these black-and-white greats, one
key element of their success must
lie with their scripts. In the American
Film Institute’s (AFI) poll of
the 100 greatest movie quotes of all
time, the movie with the most entries
was Casablanca, with 7, while
among the most highly ranked were
quotes from ‘On the Waterfront’,
‘Citizen Kane’ and ‘Some like it
Hot’. The ending lines of ‘Casablanca’
and ‘Some Like it Hot’: “Louis,
I think this is the beginning of a
beautiful friendship,” and “Well,
nobody’s perfect,” respectively, have
been referenced so often they’ve become
legendary in their own right,
and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a
person who can deny the enigmatic
resonance of the word ‘Rosebud’.
Another common feature is the
relative lack of profanity in the old
classics, compared to our modern
films. ‘Casablanca’, when you
consider what we might expect of a
romantic-wartime epic nowadays,
is rated as PG, and though the
chemistry between the lead actors’
is far from lacking in passion, the
content is demure, almost chaste.
Similarly, considering that
‘On the Waterfront’ is considered
a great gangster movie, its content
when compared to ‘The Godfather’,
for example, is tame. These old
movies didn’t rely on crudeness
as a dramatic technique; no cheap
tactics were used, they simply succeeded
with something that can be
summed up as, simply, charisma.
Though the quality of many modern
movies cannot be disputed, it
becomes necessary to answer our
question regarding the greatness of
the black-and-white films with another
question. Sure, we enjoy the
by-the-numbers big-budget movies
Hollywood is producing now, but
in decades ahead will these pass the
test that has already been put to the
old classics? Only time will tell –
but I know who my money is on...
If there is one thing that people
have asked me more than anything
else this term it is whether
they have to be a Drama Student
to join Drama Society. And the
answer is plain and simple, NO!
You can study absolutely anything
and still be a member and that is
exactly why the Union has a Drama
Society: to give students from all
departments an opportunity to
have some drama in their lives!
The next most asked question is,
“How often does the society meet?”
This is a tricky one as it totally depends
on how much you want to do
within the society. The members as
a whole only meet once a term, but
other aspects of the Society have
weekly meetings. The Holloway
Players, for example, meet every
Sunday evening whereas if you’re
in a production then the rehearsal
times are decided by the director.
So, what do you have planned this
term for me to get my teeth sunk
into, I hear you all cry?
Well, let us start with our two
productions, A Streetcar Named
Desire by Tennessee Williams and
Quills by Doug Wright – both of
which have now been cast and have
full production teams. However,
once you become a member we
will let you know of any help that
is required for these two shows.
‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ will
be on in Jane Holloway Hall from
Wednesday the 28th of October
to Friday the 30th of October at
7.30pm. Keep your eyes peeled
around campus for their publicity
campaign, and tickets will be on
sale in the Union Box Office soon.
Following the Marquis de Sade’s
final days in Charenton asylum,
‘Quills’ tells the story of one of the
most sexually deviant writers of all
time, and of his philosophies on
love, religion, sex and censorship
with violent, bloody consequences.
‘Quills’ will be on from the 20th-
23rd of November in the Students
Union Main Hall, and is set to be
Holloway’s sauciest production yet.
Although we are very passionate
E X T R A
Arts
arts@thefounder.co.uk
about our productions, there is still
so much more to get involved with.
Community Outreach is a massive
part of Drama Society and this
can range from acting out scenes
from plays for the folks down at
Manor Farm day centre to creating
exciting and educational drama
workshops for the kids in the local
primary schools. This term our
projects include weekly reading
sessions at Manor Farm Day
Centre in Egham every Wednesday
afternoon 1.30pm-2.30pm. This is a
lovely way to get involved with the
community and read out some of
old folks’ favourite classics novels
and plays. We would still love more
people to get involved with this, so
if you are interested then please do
give us an email! Anyone who plays
the piano or would like to do a bit
of singing for this, then you will be
welcomed with open arms! CRB
checks will need to be done, but
don’t worry these can all be sorted
relatively quickly.
There is another wonderful part
to the Drama Society, which over
the last 3 years has rapidly grown
into a blooming flower of comedy
genius. Yes, of course I am talking
about The Holloway Players! The
Players’ comedy is based around
improvisation and can be compared
to the likes of Whose Line
is it Anyway and Mock the Week.
Their next show is in Tommy’s on
Tuesday November 3rd, doors will
be open from 7pm and the show
will start at 8pm. Please make sure
you get there early though, I was
actually turned away at the door the
other week as they were so packed.
If you like what you see and want to
be a part of The Holloway Players,
then get yourself down to Munro
Fox at 7pm every Sunday.
Socials wise, there is plenty for
you to be getting on with this term.
First of all we have the Launch
Nights for our two wonderful productions,
details of which we will
be released very soon and no doubt
be plastered all over campus. These
will both include a raffle, cast and
crew slave auctions, musical entertainment
and much more. Also,
we will be hosting a film night and
showing ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’
on Sunday 25th October at 6pm in
ALT2 in the Arts Building.
As far as theatre trips go, we
have organised a trip to The Rose
Theatre in Kingston to go and see
the Naturalist classic ‘Miss Julie’
by August Strindberg, which has
a post show chat with the cast and
director afterwards. This will be on
Thursday November the 5th, so if
you’d rather stay in the warm and
appreciate some good theatre then
give us an email and reserve a ticket
for just £13. Tickets are limited so it
will be first come first serve.
Phew, there does seem to be a lot
going on this term. However, if you
aren’t a part of any productions yet
then please do not fear! There are
five more shows for us to put on
this year, and YOU could be directing/producing/stage
managing one
of them! If you are interested in
putting on a play with Drama Society
then look out for the Edinburgh
and Spring Term Bid Packs which
will be out after Reading Week. As
always please email us with any
questions, queries or problems at
rhuldramasociety@hotmail.com.
Involved in a production?
Just want to contribute to the arts section?