“Being given the opportunity to watch a drama production for the first time with my peers was a thoroughly enjoyable and valuable experience. There were plenty of moments that made us giggle – we discovered that Shakespeare is actually funny!”
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The Year 11s and 12s enjoyed a night out to watch A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the State Theatre of Western Australia. The night began exploring delicious flavours of ice-cream at Chicho Gelato. We then went inside to watch Bell Theatre’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s infamous play. They had some wonderfully fast transitions and movements in and between the set and a style that evoked a sense of the supernatural. The performance had everyone in fits of giggles many a time – a very enjoyable evening for all!
Year 12 Responses
A Midsummer Night's Dream was an excitable ride through tangled love affairs and mischievous magical mayhem. Watching this play is like sipping on a fine wine - it's both intoxicating and leaves you wanting more (not that I'm old enough to know this feeling). With its whimsical characters, hilarious misunderstandings, and a healthy dose of fairy dust, it really helped elucidate Shakespeare's theatrical genius in a live setting. Overall, I'm very grateful for the English department for this opportunity and hope more people can experience the joy of live performance.
From eating ice cream before, to going into the sophisticated Heath Ledger Theatre, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of viewing the Shakespeare theatre production, A Midsummer Night's Dream. The character that caught my attention most was Hermia, with her beautifully rehearsed personality, she created a personal connection between the audience and herself, allowing us to feel associated with the play's actions.
The city was busy, but it didn't stop some English teachers and crazy literature students attending A Midsummer Night's Dream at Heath Ledger Theatre. After devouring some abstract flavours of ice cream (such as Lavender and Honeycomb, or Malt Milk Cornflake Cookie), we headed into the theatre where we mingled amongst the other angst viewers, eager to get the show on the road. The doors were finally opened and people streamed in, looking for their seats. The drama performance kept the audience on the edge of their seats the entire time. Furthermore, the occasional bursts of singing or comical monologues brought about laughter, even though the Shakespearian English was difficult to understand at times. Overall, the play was amazing and watching it in a theatre was even better! The actors did an awesome job at switching their personalities with each character they played. 100% recommend.
Being given the opportunity to watch a drama production for the first time with my peers was a thoroughly enjoyable and valuable experience. There were plenty of moments that made us giggle - we discovered that Shakespeare is actually funny! The production also increased my appreciation for actors and production crews. We were impressed with how they remembered all their lines effortlessly.
The theatre was a fun, exciting experience, from the delicious ice creams beforehand to the talented production itself. The characters had us crying of laughter, the play itself an extremely enjoyable watch. Some of us didn't have a massive amount of theatre experience, only reading plays in our studies, so it was beautiful to see it come to life.
Year 11 Responses
Having been my first time watching a live performance of a professional play, the thing that impacted me the most was the choreography of the play. A large section of what seemed an old warship was used as the backdrop of the play, and while wholeheartedly delivering their lines, the actors would swing, duck, weave and sometimes chase each other through the structure, not once slipping or injuring themselves for the entirety of the two hours of the play's duration. More generally speaking, it was quite nice to mingle with those I usually don't interact with, and spend a night in an unfamiliar yet beautiful place, to watch some drama unfold.
It was fascinating to witness A Midsummer Night's Dream performed live with a cast of qualified and entertaining people. A true Shakespearian play that, at times, seemed confusing, but was nonetheless engaging, especially once the synopsis is read. I particularly enjoyed the final scenes of the play that were quite humorous in their regard (applause to the case) and managed to complete the play so that I was tired of laughing!
The experience of visiting a theatre in real life for the first time was very enjoyable, as I was able to much more fully appreciate the art form of drama. The play, A Midsummer Night's Dream itself was very good, not only in the quality of writing, which can be attributed of course to Shakespeare, but in the quality of acting, which was astounding. Watching a play has caused me to reflect on the way we study a play in the subject of Literature. In class the focus is always on the writing alone, and not the way it was acted and the stage effects such as lighting, which of course makes sense, as it is difficult to present a student with the lighting and stage effects in an exam situation. However, it seems that those aspects are still extremely valuable. Literature at school generally deals with three forms of text: poetry, prose, and drama. While prose and poetry are intended to be read, and are likewise studied in that fashion in Literature, drama is the odd one out, as it is not intended to be read, but rather watched or acted. (Arguable poetry is intended to be read aloud, but this aspect is still dealt with in Literature class through the analysis of sound). It seems that drama has now divided, at least in the school setting into two art forms - the original art of drama as that which is watched, and the alternative treatment of drama as a written text. While neither form is necessarily more legitimate than the other; since the former art form is that which was intended by the playwright, I have been led to ponder on how Literature at school can take the opportunity of analysing more of the other aspects of drama not just pertaining to the written words. Overall, I believe that the experience of seeing an actual play was extremely valuable, and I encourage the school to consider running the excursion again for future Literature and/or English students.
I would like to give my thanks to the school for providing tickets to see a rather unique rendition of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. As none of us had seen a play, it was great to get insight into how little we are missing out on in the world of watching people pretend to be other people. It quickly became apparent that in order to find any form of enjoyment watching a play, you had to seize to search for a moral from it and throw away your values to simply try and laugh at something you are watching because you paid to be there. It showed me that the fact we study plays as a text is rather ineffective as when actually watching one, they speak much too fast to understand what they are saying. Instead, you must simply 'enjoy' the way it is they say things and put emphasis on certain words not communicated on paper. That stage directions and lighting is equally as important as the text, but that we complete ignore it in class, taking instead what it is that we are not meant to focus on and pulling it to pieces to create "meaning" that we cannot guarantee is initially even there with any form of certainty. I enjoyed the time getting to socialise with people I do not often converse with, and would definitely choose to go with hindsight, however within the play itself, I was merely trying to work out what parts were meant to be funny, and when it was appropriate to blow my nose. Many thanks to Rehoboth for teaching me such unexpected lessons.
