5 December 2017
What do you get when you cross a shipwreck, love triangles, disguises and mistaken identity with a summer festival, a DJ, the music of Madness and a portable toilet? A rollicking production of Twelfth Night, performed with aplomb by Woldingham Sixth Formers.
Director, Mrs Love, decided to update everything, except the language; the production was set in a modern day English coastal town during a number of festivals, fairs and parties – hence a DJ and decks being permanently present on stage and a great intermittent soundtrack.
The, initially, star-crossed lovers ably brought romance to proceedings and the comedy came thick and fast from a whole host of characters, in part through the bard’s words, of course, but also conveyed through excellent physical skills and timing.
There are, of course, always two sides to a story, so as well as the front of house view, let’s get the backstage one from Fabian (aka Georgia), a friend of Sir Toby Belch:
As one would expect in a work of Shakespeare, we took our backstage responsibilities incredibly seriously. The crew were prompt and efficient when manoeuvring the hefty porta potty on stage and took it upon their duty to ensure that each lump of fake 'waste' was placed meticulously on Malvolio. In the occasion that a head bopper would dismember or a confetti canon became hindered, crew would not rest until the issue was resolved and the show could go on. Furthermore, to assist this dramatic Shakespeare rendition and emotional experience, the actors delivered their lines with great pose and great passion which is fundamental in a serious production such as this.
The audience were incredibly supportive of our performance and laughed on cue in the appropriate places.
We would just like to thank Mrs Love and Mrs Mann, who worked long and hard on the production. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without them. We would also like to thank the crew and The Lighting Company for making us appear more attractive on stage and Mrs Nasskau for sewing up our outfits after a series of unfortunate wardrobe malfunctions. And finally, Ms Lane, who joined in the dreaded ‘audience participation’ scene. We are still in the process of deciding what to do with the footage.
Georgia, Lower Sixth