Aitken Theatre Studies ‘07

 As you are aware, one of your assessable tasks is to analyse a production from the prescribed list set down by the VCAA.  You will need to analyse one play for Unit Three and one play for Unit Four.

The list provided by the VCAA is contained below.  Click Read On… to find out more.

VCE Theatre Studies Unit 3, 2007 Play list
Schools should note that the following plays have been selected for study in 2007.
1.   Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen
Theatreworks
Venue:        Theatreworks, 14 Acland Street, St Kilda
Season:       3 May – 20 May 2007
This classic realist drama explores questions about trying to remain an independent thinker in conservative times. This production will use a contemporary Australian translation of the original work and feature expressionistic theatrical styles. Oswald has returned to his mother’s house suffering from a terrible disease. His mother is about to open an orphanage to commemorate her husband’s life work but these plans unravel as past events enter the present.
 

 

2.   The Spook by Melissa Reeves
Malthouse Theatre
Venue:        The Merlyn Theatre, CUB Malthouse
Season:       16 February – 10 March 2007
A psychological thriller set in regional Cold War Australia, this naturalistic work explores themes of friendship, family, loyalty, vulnerability and multiculturalism in ways that resonate metaphorically with the Australia of today. The narrative moves rapidly in place and time from meetings to clandestine encounters and comic tableaux as Martin Porter, a 19-year-old footballer recruited to the world of espionage by the mysterious Alex infiltrates the local branch of the Communist Party. This production will use a cast of seven to perform the twelve characters and will feature use of sound and lighting.
 

 

3.   Ginger Mick at Gallipoli, from The Moods of Ginger Mick by C J Dennis
Petty Traffikers
Venues:      Metropolitan and Regional
Season:       Metropolitan: 30 April – 13 May 2007

 

Ginger Mick at Gallipoli dramatises C J Dennis’ tale of Ginger Mick and the Anzacs in Turkey. The performance is created from excerpts of Dennis’ poems. Many diggers carried copies of the poems in their uniform pockets during WWI. The play recounts acts of courage and the horrors of war from Ginger Mick’s perspective. A physical performance style features songs from the WWI era, army drills, actors playing multiple roles, transformations of time and place and use of everyday items as storytelling objects.
 

 

4.   Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Bell Shakespeare
Venues:      13 metropolitan and regional locations
Season:       17 April – 22 May 2007, for details see www.bellshakespeare.com.au
Macbeth explores how a lust for power can lead to a loss of humanity. The play creates images of nature at war with itself. This contemporary interpretation will use a cast of nine with almost all actors playing more than one role and include references to conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere. Theatrical styles will focus on transformation and use minimal props, contemporary costumes, a soundscape and lighting to evoke a heightened sense of theatricality.
 

 

5.   All My Sons by Arthur Miller
Melbourne Theatre Company
Venue:        The Arts Centre Playhouse
Season:       24 February – 31 March 2007
This naturalistic drama is set at the Keller family home on the outskirts of an American town around 1947. Joe and Kate’s son Larry, a WWII airman, has been missing in action for three years. His mother strongly believes he will return home. Chris, their elder son wants to marry Ann, Larry’s former girlfriend. Ann’s father Steve is in jail after being found guilty when he and Joe were charged with supplying faulty cylinder heads that resulted in 21 planes crashing in Australia with the death of each pilot. Joe was cleared of the charges but confesses that he lied in court so that the business would survive and he could look after his sons.
 

 

VCE Theatre Studies Unit 4, 2007 Play list
The following plays have been selected for study in 2007.
 

1.   Educating Rita by Willy Russell
HIT Productions
Venues:      touring regional, rural and metropolitan venues
Season:       22 June – 21 September 2007
Set in a single space of a cramped and untidy university office, Educating Rita follows the conversation between Rita, a hairdresser on a quest to become an ‘educated person’ and Frank, a cynical professor. Their contrasting language, lifestyle and understanding of what is education is and why it is important are the focus of the narrative. The play portrays their changing relationship and explores questions about the costs of knowledge and self-improvement.
 

 

2.   The Club by David Williamson
HIT Productions
Venues:      touring regional, rural and metropolitan venues
Season:       16 August – 4 September 2007
The Club is a familiar story about a sports team, its’ officials, coach and players. This struggling football team is trying to cope with boardroom power struggles, threats of a player strike and a highly-paid recruit who isn’t focused. Ambition, pride and trust are some of the themes explored in this play.
 

 

3.   A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt
Complete Works Theatre Company
Venues:      Metropolitan: Union Theatre (University of Melbourne), Dandenong
Season:       17 July – 7 August 2007
First produced in 1960, A Man for All Seasons is a historical drama about the events leading to the martyrdom and execution of Sir Thomas More in 1535. The Common Man is sometimes the narrator and he also plays the roles of most of the lower-class characters. More, the Lord Chancellor of England clashes politically and morally with King Henry VIII when he says he is unable to support the king’s plans to divorce Catherine of Aragon. More’s downfall is contrasted with the rise to wealth and power of Richard Rich, a lowly official seeking More’s patronage to further his career.
 

 

4.         The Soul Miner by Ray Swann and Andreas Litras
Identity Theatre
Venues:      Metropolitan: Abbotsford Convent
Season:       Metropolitan: 18 July – 12 August 2007
Set in three acts and across two worlds – Gallipoli and a coal mine – The Soul Miner uses transformations of time, place and character. The central character, Jim is a miner who fought at Gallipoli. The play focuses on Jim’s relationship with Frank, another miner and what happened to them at Gallipoli.
 

 

5.   The Chapel Perilous by Dorothy Hewitt
La Mama
Venue:        La Mama
Season:       1 August – 19 August 2007
Using Epic theatre styles, The Chapel Perilous features a small cast playing multiple roles and a set that reflects a symbolic dreamscape. Sally Banner, poet, returns to her old school for the dedication of a stained glass window (featuring herself) that she has donated. As a student, Sally constantly aimed to defy authority and her efforts are remembered by the authority figures of the school. Is Sally’s gift an act of hypocrisy or an admission that she has failed to convince the world through her poetry and lifestyle that blood and flesh are wiser than intellect?
 

There seem to be some interesting choices in there.  We are probably silly not to chose Bell Shakespeare for Unit Three, but the Unit Four selection should allow us to explore stagecraft elements not previously covered.  I’ll discuss it more with you at the beginning of next year.  If you are looking for something to do over the holidays, you might like to get your hands on copies of the scripts and read each play.  It will make you better prepared for the work you will undertake.

 

 

 

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