Over the past couple of weeks, I have had the pleasure of attending the year level drama productions and have been blown away with some of the talent present in our young actors.

Miss Sheldon’s Year 7s performed the play Micro World that explored the lives of insects linking this microcosm to human characteristics. This play was developed adjacent to Miss Patterson’s Year 7 dance students who created a movement piece exploring water and the ecosystem surrounding it. These pieces were created to link up with Scotch’s Live Well Program.

In Year 8, both classes broke up into to smaller groups of 4-6 and devised their own scripts based on their favourite TV shows and films. Anything from Bondi Rescue to Despicable Me or even Hell’s Kitchen. I found it hilarious to watch recreated versions of my favourite scenes and I enjoyed the countless improvised jokes and the fact that these students are able to learn so much when having fun. The students learnt basic stage craft, blocking and how to communicate a character through the use of their body, face and voice.

The Year 9s worked with professional actors Matt Crook and Ellen Steele on their shows specialising in children’s theatre. Each class chose an iconic concept to adapt into short 15-20 minute plays to then be performed to our ELC students. Their rendition of the Mr Men and Little Miss (pictured) series and the twist put on the timeless classic, The Muppets, created the foundation to take the levels of creativity anywhere they wanted. The execution of these performances were refined to reflect the talent of these students and was enjoyable for all the younger students as well as a handful of senior students and parents in attendance. Magnificent.

The Year 10 program allows freedom and support when it comes to the devised pieces. The first play, Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse, is written by Jemma Turnbull and is an exploration of the absurd perfectionistic world of Barbie. The group wanted to examine the stereotypes apparent in Barbie’s world and then use heightened realism, melodrama, stock characters and exaggerated stylisation to satirise the ridiculous nature and expectations of their personas and lives. The design of the show has a 2-dimensional feel and focusses on three episodes that explore stereotypical themes like a fashion show, a birthday party and a sleep over. 

The second play, The Art of Being Normal, is written by Harry Ince and also explores teenage stereotypes. Harry wanted to fuse several styles of theatre together. There are some serious topics like illness, some coarse language and adult themes, as well as bullying, sexuality, expectations and career choices. Some of the characters are anchored more in realism, while other more ‘stereotypical’ characters are ‘cartoon like’ and have been turned into satirical statements about certain types of people in society. This play is a mix of comedy, naturalistic content, realism and quite unrealistic presentational techniques. The actors merging from one scene to the next is an alienation and post-modern technique employed and the students. They handle this sophisticated style of theatre with ease.

Stage 1 drama is also looking at stereotypes and the idea of Brechtian theatre with their show, Behind the Scene. Brechtian theatre aims to show what’s wrong with our society using different and non-traditional acting techniques and I believe the students have done this perfectly. The production has been inspired by the film Inside Out with similar structures of different emotions controlling our actions and blending the reality of the world around us and what’s inside our heads.

I can’t wait what the drama teachers and their students have in store for us in Semester 2.

Ethan Miotti
Media Captain