Wit & Wisdom
Roger Jenkins
storyteller
storyteller
© Roger Jenkins 2011 Made With Serif WebPlus.
Why perform in the round?
Well, 20% of the audience had a front row seat – and every one of our 400+ audience was within 25 feet of the stage!
Instead of struggling to see actors lost at the far end of the hall, the audience could almost reach out and touch the actors - and they certainly felt the energy and excitement radiating from the stage.
We erected a 6 x 6 metre square platform 30cm high to create our stage in the centre of the school hall. Access was via four wide aisles radiating from each of the corners.
Around the perimeter of the hall we placed the musicians, and each group was linked with one of the four worlds of the play:
Well, 20% of the audience had a front row seat – and every one of our 400+ audience was within 25 feet of the stage!
Instead of struggling to see actors lost at the far end of the hall, the audience could almost reach out and touch the actors - and they certainly felt the energy and excitement radiating from the stage.
We erected a 6 x 6 metre square platform 30cm high to create our stage in the centre of the school hall. Access was via four wide aisles radiating from each of the corners.
Around the perimeter of the hall we placed the musicians, and each group was linked with one of the four worlds of the play:
|
|
angklung announced the court;
|
|
|
guitars strummed for the lovers;
|
|
|
handbells evoked the fairies’ magic enchantingly
|
|
|
and the Concert Band seized the chance to play deliberately off-key for the Mechanicals, and did so to great comical effect, especially in Bottom’s Donkey Love Song (“Eeyore the girl for me!”)
|
Performing in the round is not easy. The cast had to throw out the window almost everything I’d taught them in the previous three years, in order to explore a totally different relationship with each other and the audience. Being so close to the audience requires total honesty and commitment - but the pay-off in terms of immediacy and response was well worth it.
‘Dream’ is a very physical play, which suits playing in the 360 well. The big space was a great help for the comedy.
Play Production profile:
A MIDSUMMERNIGHT’S DREAM
performed by Centrestage, St Joseph’s Convent, 2009
staged at the school in the round
A MIDSUMMERNIGHT’S DREAM
performed by Centrestage, St Joseph’s Convent, 2009
staged at the school in the round
My version of Shakespeare’s text
keeps a lot of the original, throws in some modern anachronisms and local references, and replaces much of the lovers journey through the woods with a snappy synopsis delivered by Puck (as the four lovers provide an animated 3D slideshow!)
keeps a lot of the original, throws in some modern anachronisms and local references, and replaces much of the lovers journey through the woods with a snappy synopsis delivered by Puck (as the four lovers provide an animated 3D slideshow!)
It is Puck who actually presents the whole performance. Ours was
a mischevious magician who was keen to demonstrate some tricks of his own - though she lacked
Oberon’s mastery of magic!
a mischevious magician who was keen to demonstrate some tricks of his own - though she lacked
Oberon’s mastery of magic!