Drama
This week in Drama, Cassidy Cogin reviews No Pay? No Way! , read about the Norm & Ahmed Incursion as well as about SCEGGS Old Girls who have contributed to an upcoming short film.
Theatre Club
Last Thursday, the Theatre Club ventured to The Sydney opera House Drama Theatre to see the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Dario Fo’s No Pay? No Way! This example of classic comic farce did not fail to impress the students and provide much mirth. In the accomplished hands of actors like Helen Thompson and Glenn Hazeldine, audiences are assured an insightful and reflective experience of playing style and the political intention of Fo’s writing.
No Pay? No Way! Review
The first thing I noticed when entering the theatre was the brilliant stagecraft set up, and the realism of the set, especially in contrast to the borderline absurdism of the story. Not only was the performance visually stunning but laugh-out-loud hilarious; each line offered multiple meanings and every character felt fresh and entertaining. No Pay? No Way! starts as a simple concept: A group of women steal – sorry, “liberate” groceries due to the ridiculous surge in price and a hunt for the perpetrators ensues. As the play progresses and the underlying political resistance and rebellion grew, even the comedic moments felt more serious and real.
At the beginning of the second half, I had absolutely no idea what to expect, or where the story would go. After a shocking and amusing opening, the performance advances with more wit and satire, continuing with the cause and effect sequence.
As the play comes to a melancholic end, I was left feeling bittersweet. The ending hits hard – the reality that the characters are ultimately unable to fully escape a systematic cycle of corruption and greediness seems very relevant in today’s world. All in all, No Pay? No Way! creates hilarious scenes (such as when Giovanni weighs up the pros and cons of eating dog food for dinner) to uphold a strong and significant political message, that remains just as applicable and important now.
By Cassidy Cogin (Year 11)
Norm & Ahmed
Actors Laurence and William visited the school yesterday to perform the Australian play Norm & Ahmed by Alex Buzo. The play came out of the New Wave playwriting movement in the late 1960s, causing quite a stir with its themes of racism and abuse of power. It is a text that is still relevant today and demonstrates perhaps how little has changed in the past 50 years.
The play is studied, alongside David Williamson’s The Removalists, in the HSC Drama course with the topic Dramatic Traditions in Australia. Our HSC Drama students attended the performance in The Playhouse and were joined by the Preliminary Drama class who will also study the text in 2021.
Following the performance, the actors led a workshop focusing on the two plays. The girls gained much from this experience to use in their investigation and reflection of the plays as seminal works of our national theatre.
Treasure
Congratulations to a group of graduates who have all contributed in various capacities to the short film, Treasure. Vivienne Smith, Darcie Irwin-Simpson, Olivia Satchell, Georgia Scott and Jacqueline Satchell have worked on this film about two sisters who are reunited after the death of their father. While packing up the family home, they discover a childhood map that leads them to reconciliation and a burial.
For the theatre one needs long arms… an artiste with short arms can never make a fine gesture.
Sarah Bernhardt
Peter Eyers
Head of Drama
