Here, at MGIS, students performed their adaptation of the Mahabharata within a 2 week rehearsal period. If that wasn’t ambitious enough, a group of them also tackled a piece like Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” in a six week time frame.
Tell most professional companies this and they will shudder. Because creating a production of any respectable quality, especially when that production is not the sole focus of your existence – we work in a school, theatre is just one of the activities students are engaged in- well, to create a production that can actually hold its own in such circumstances, is insanity!
But at MGIS, time was not a limitation, it was just an additional challenge. Rather than inspiring fear, the little time we had to put up these productions created an inspired atmosphere. Late evening rehearsals,sessions over the weekend, a borderline addiction to the script in question and of course, immense talent, meant that not only were we able to put up the productions in time, but that they were actually good. Very good.
The students we have in the theatre program are an extremely ambitious bunch. While one group now works on creating an original performance piece, another is about embark on Gandhiji’s “Hind Swaraj” under the direction of a visiting theatre maker. Their ambitions mean that time will again be a non issue for us as we look to have productions up as early as July and August. Productions that we hope will not only challenge our own skills, but enable us to engage our audiences in new and exciting ways.
We hope to see you all at our next show!
Article by Nandita Dinesh, Theatre teacher