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Copyright
© 2006 Guide Line Promoti |
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Dramatic Summer
A
Twirl of a Pearl
A whole new concept of theatre will be introduced to Gibraltar
during National Week, as part of an ambitious street acting
project which will blur the boundaries between stage and audience
and will involve actors and spectators in a choral drama of
archaic Greek tragedy reminiscence. Local drama group “Anouilh
Players”, directed by Joe Gomez (one of their most prominent
members and also president of the Gibraltar Amateur Drama
Association), will stage prolific French playwright Jean Anouilh’s
play “The Lark”, a modern reinterpretation of
the story of his conational heroine Joan of Arc.
However, such a solemn theme could not be restricted within
the walls of a theatre, and so there came the innovative idea
of “knocking down” those walls and expanding the
action outdoors, like in a medieval Nativity or Passion representation,
made even more relevant and evocative by this play’s
medieval settings. So, the “curtain” will open
on the large cast in the Ince’s Hall Theatre patio,
from where a procession will slowly lead the heroine to her
impending doom and a highly spectacular trial which will take
place in the suggestive surroundings of the Piazzella, Governor’s
Parade.
The audience will be given the choice to gather at either
point, to follow the action from the beginning or pick it
up half way through, when ‘swept off’ their path
as long as the march unfolds, while the streets of Gibraltar
will for a moment leap back almost six hundred years in time
to provide a three-dimensional set to the large cast in period
costumes, reviving a key chapter of Anglo-French history.
Auditions were held last month and rehearsals have already
begun, straight after Joe Gomez’s previous directorial
opus was sealed with a bang in July, when his drama workshops’
students staged the comedies they had written and acted in
eight weeks of intensive introduction to theatre courses.
And the adults’ drama group was so proud of their achievements
as newly graduated thespians that they are considering re
staging their fast-paced half-an-hour long comedy, “A
Twirl of a Pearl”, for a wider audience than the bunch
of family and friends — and of course the Governor’s
wife Lady Richards who then presented all participants with
a certificate — exclusively invited to its worldwide
premiere and end-of-term performance, with Drama Week in December
being one of the most probable venues.“A Twirl of a
Pearl” was entirely conceived by the students, who drew
inspiration from the axiom that life is a grand stage, and
created a range of diverse characters with an all-round depth
that never makes them cariacatures, but nothing subtracts
to comedy brilliance. Without giving away too much of the
plot, but enough to tease the potential audience to attend
its forthcoming re-runs, the action unfolds in a piazza, with
a minimalist set featuring a café terrace, a car parked
in a disabled bay, a public telephone, a boutique window and
a supermarket sign and is glued together by a the character
of the drunk, present on stage from curtain to curtain.He
provides the discreet comic relief to the opening chit-chat
of two long-lost girlfriends, then a pyrotechnic centre stage
gag in a duet with the waiter and the closing ingenious coup
de theatre, while kleptomaniac Quick Fingers Lucy strolls
in and out applying her velvet touch to the unsuspecting characters’
property, a policewoman books the machista abuser of a disabled
parking bay, who then takes advantage of the issued ticket
to continue his shopping and to flirt with a lost Spanish
tourist in search of romantic adventures with handsome blue-eyed
English men.
The group of amateur drama beginners managed to overcome minor
hiccups and practical difficulties, first of all time constraint
(they all have work and family commitments which allowed them
to meet only a couple of hours a week) and a limited knowledge
of the basic rules in the world on the other side of curtain,
to deliver a spot-on performance of professional standards,
walking the stage with the natural poise the audience can
expect from skilled actors.
Meanwhile, the children’s and teenagers’ group
enjoyed so much the ride that are doing it again with a Summer
Drama Workshop three times a week spanning from mid-July to
mid-August, under the umbrella of the sport and cultural activities
for schoolchildren organised by Government, and the experienced
teachings of amateur director and actress Abigail Ryan Wallace
of the Spotlight Drama Group and GADA vice-president, actress
and producer Iris Guilliano.
The kids’workshops and performances unveiled some rising
stars in the local drama panorama, and allowed the students
to develop and maximise their artistic potential whether in
ideating and writing the scripts and in developing the characters
on stage, where they directed themselves, under the attentive
guidance of Joe Gomez, who sprinkled advice only when needed,
not to hinder the children’s enthusiasm in exploring
their own creativity.
They staged five short comedies and two longer ones, all with
a constructive meaning, harmonious plot and twists in the
action; the acting was spot-on delivered and the team work
proved to be the foundation of friendships stretching well
beyond the spotlight.
For information about GADA forthcoming initiatives, contact
Iris Guilliano on 54006176 or e-mail amateurdramagibraltar@yahoo.co.uk.
For information about Anouilh Players, contact Joe Gomez at
zemog@gibtelecom.net
Pictures: the cast of “A Twirl of a Pearl”; tourist
and playboy; Beware of the bandit from “Madame Mooch”
one of the plays presented by teenage drama students last
2nd July.
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