ISTA/Scene March 07

community – sometimes they
overshadow a dramatic performance
but within an international community,
it will be a musical that will bring the
community together.
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS by
William Shakespeare
Shakespeare can be difficult for MS
students, and sometimes for teachers,
but I decided to try my first
Shakespeare play. Which one to
choose It just so happened that I
had tickets to see THE COMEDY OF
ERRORS in the West End, London –
and I was struck by both the simplistic
and humorous way it was produced. I
had found my Shakespeare play. Two
week before auditions, students were
able to drop by my room to read
through the script and become familiar
with the play. I spent many lunch
periods and recess time talking with
students about Shakespeare and THE
COMEDY OF ERRORS. When I
choose a play for MS students, I
always try and find a theme that would
be relevant to their life experiences.
This Shakespeare play was a perfect
choice to explore identity – which is a
major issue for adolescent-aged
students.
With a 10-week rehearsal schedule,
we spent the beginning weeks
exploring the language and how to
create ‘normal’ dialogue with the
verse. During this time, we had the
good fortune to participate in a
Shakespeare workshop at the Globe
Theatre, exploring themes of the play.
We even had a chance to act out
some scenes on the stage. This was
an invaluable experience for the cast.
Our set was all white with revolving
doors, which were metaphors for the
changing identities. Both set of twins
were dressed the same and the action
was more Commedia dell’ Arte than
Shakespeare. The cast had a ball
doing this play and their interest in
Shakespeare grew. For me THE
COMEDY OF ERRORS was an easy
and funny play to do with MS
students. It was very accessible as an
introduction to Shakespeare. Again, I
used MS students as crew, lighting
and sound people for the production.
THE ODYSSEY adapted by David
Calcutt
The ODYSSEY is a wonderful play to
do because it touches on many
adolescent issues such as identity,
transition, friendship, risk-taking, love,
etc. Another reason for choosing THE
ODYSSEY was my policy of allowing
anyone who auditions to be involved in
the play as either cast or crew. Usually
I get around 30-40 students
auditioning for the MS play so I always
try to choose a play with a large and
flexible cast.
THE ODYSSEY proved to be an
amazing experience for both cast and
myself. During the early stages of the
rehearsal process, we explored the
story and improvised each adventure
Odysseus experienced. I also began
to explore with the cast the concepts
of ritual and storytelling. The
adaptation focused on the concept of
a story within a story – which made it
easier for both the cast and audience
to understand the story and to allow
monsters and Cyclops to appear on
stage by using effigies for these
creatures. The staging was simple –
chairs for listeners of the story in the
play and the floor for the actors telling
the story. 9th grade students who
were studying THE ODYSSEY in class
talked to the cast about the story. The
characters created their own dance
and rituals needed in the play.
Through the exploration and
development of rituals, the cast
became closer to each other and a
real ensemble experience was created
for all involved. I also had a high
school assistant director who worked
with the students. My designer
designed every costume and we had
parents make them. It was quite an
adventure – just like the journey in the
story. It was a fascinating experience
bringing together parents, cast and
crew to work on one adventure –
which was an odyssey in itself.
Calderdale HS
Steve Reynolds – United World
College of Li Po Chun, Hong Kong
WOZA ALBERT by Percy Mtwa,
Mbongeni Ngema and Barney
Simon
The play was presented by IB Theatre
Arts students as their year two/end of
course production. It was the
culmination of their African theatre unit
as well as a celebration (and closure)
of the course as a whole. The play
features two actors playing a variety of
characters with a basic (easy to
prepare) staging. It is fast moving,
funny and very physical, but also
focuses on the serious issue of racism
through its Apartheid South African
setting. We split the play into four
sections and two different students
played the characters in each section
(because there are so many characters
there is little need for character
development). A student director was
then appointed for each unit. So, the
students owned the material and I as
teacher just oversaw the production
values and transitions between each
unit. We rehearsed over an 8-week
period (the separately run units made
simultaneous rehearsals easy), in
lessons and after school. We explored
the history of South Africa and physical
theatre skills before focusing on the
text and delivered a studio
performance over three nights to the Li
Po Chun college community.
THE LIST by Steve Reynolds
This play was presented by the Dar es
Salaam Young Peoples Theatre, a
youth group that was based in the
International School of Tanganyika and
open to all local young people (no
auditions – inclusive entry). The group
was dedicated to producing plays
Scene | 2006-7 March Issue 3 | 19