The play’s the thing
My first full day at work: in the classroom, shadowing Viloshni Naidoo, the Head of Performing Arts at Dominican, followed by the introductory meeting to “Production”, which is the name
January 23, 2017
Theatre Work
New kid on the block
With Viloshni having to undergo her latest bout of chemo, I had to cover a couple of her lessons on my own… In other words, teach! It’s a bit like
January 24, 2017
Highbrow? Hardly…
An encounter with a learner (the charming term they use here for a pupil) during a lesson today: she raises her hand, and I make my way to her through
January 26, 2017
Audition!
They say that great drama springs from constraints; so we are clearly destined for quite a show, as the constraints on this first audition were considerable. On the plus side, it
January 30, 2017
Lentswe lea Bua…
(No staff were injured in the making of this video.) Wandered into the staffroom at breaktime to discover a rehearsal, led by Rosa Motha, the DCS choirmistress, in full swing; it was
February 1, 2017
And they’re off!
First rehearsal proper today, called for just the main speaking roles in the first two plays. They were late arriving – as noted before, some things are the same the
February 3, 2017
Reflections – a fortnight in Africa
First rehearsal proper today, called for just the main speaking roles in the first two plays. They were late arriving – as noted before, some things are the same the
February 5, 2017
Sisters (are doing it for themselves)…
First full rehearsal, and it was slow going. I’d hoped to 1. read through the Three Sisters play, 2. try out some cast created sound effects, and 3. maybe divide
February 6, 2017
Woza Albert!
A theatre trip to the stunning Soweto theatre this afternoon: 37 learners, Val, Viloshni and me. The learners were in full school uniform, something their English counterparts would have reacted
February 9, 2017
Weeping willow?
The advantage of having six different plays with largely separate casts is that they can be rehearsed simultaneously; the disadvantage, even with just two plays, as was the case this afternoon,
February 10, 2017
The Soup dance
After last week, Chris was determined that in today’s rehearsal everybody would be kept busy. But his careful plans were thrown asunder when, amongst other things, netball trials and football training meant that at
February 13, 2017
The world is your Ostrich
Rehearsal and the usual anxiety – who would turn up? But for the first time, all the people I’d asked to come did come. (Eventually, it’s true, but hey… We
February 17, 2017