Theatre Studies Production – ‘The Birds’

Over the last 3 months, the VCE Theatre Studies class has been working on a group performance of ‘The Birds’ written by Aristophanes, first performed in 414 BC. Students worked in the roles of Actors, Directors, and Designers. 

As ‘The Birds’ was written so long ago, it was public domain, meaning as Directors and as a production team, we were able to make edits to the script to fit our particular needs. The most important task was to shorten the script as it was about 3 hours long and difficult to comprehend. To do this we had to know what elements of the show we wanted to keep - for us we wanted to keep as many of the slapstick elements of the show while steering away from too much politics.

Working as a team, we created a vision for the show, with a re-contextualisation to the 1960s in an American style street gang (à la West Side Story). This was a key decision which informed all areas of the production from makeup design to sound design to acting. 

Once the initial plans were formed for all areas of design and the roles in the play were cast, it was time for the next stage of the production process: Development.

The Directors conducted workshops and rehearsals with the Actors while the Designers worked on making their plans come to life. This involved further researching, sourcing of materials, and creation of amazing set, prop and costume pieces. All of this work was completely student-led, with our teacher (Ms O’Cal) simply there to observe and provide assistance where needed, which is one of the most exciting aspects of the course. Having complete control as the students while also having an amazing team working alongside you. 

In the last few weeks before our performances in mid-May, the intensity ramped up slightly, with everyone feeling the excitement of soon being able to share our ‘little’ project with family, friends, and the wider community. There was a bit of a scramble to make sure all of our orders arrived on time, lines were learnt, and the sound and lighting cues were plotted, but with all the effort put in by all members of the team, we were pumped and ready to go for our first Matinee performance to the Year 10 Theatre class. 

After the Matinee we conducted a Q+A which was informative for both classes as the Year 10s got an insight into what VCE Theatre Studies looks like, while we got some valuable feedback that we incorporated into our final fix ups before our first Evening performance that same night, 

Throughout two nights of performances, the energy and anticipation backstage were notable. Music could be heard playing in the upstairs dressing room before both performances with students singing along while getting their hair and makeup done, and our lovely Eve even brought snacks for every member of the production team!

Having sold out both nights worth of shows, the audience was amazing for the performances, and could be heard laughing throughout, which was good news for us! After the show, we were able to go chat with the audience and see how much they enjoyed the performance we had been working on for months. It was so rewarding to step out amongst the audience and feel the impact that our combined efforts and creativity had had on the community. 

Miranda Zabel - Actor/Director

VCE Theatre Studies Class