FIREBRINGER

VCE Theatre Studies Production

Thursday 29 and Friday 30 April

Lilydale High School VCE Theatre Studies students have just capped of a remarkable season of their production of 'Firebringer'. We were proud to be the first school in Victoria to secure the rights to this popular show and we certainly did it justice.

The show is a musical comedy about a tribe of early cave people navigating their dangerous world, their lives changed forever with the discovery of fire.

It was originally written, produced and performed by popular US college theatre company ‘Starkid’ and has over 4.5 million views on YouTube (many of them potentially by some of our own students…) So we started with a class of half Starkid fans excited beyond belief that we were doing one of their shows and half students who had no idea what was going on. But as we read through the script we all fell in love with its quirky comedy and catchy tunes.

From there we had auditions and worked out our production role teams. Students faced some interesting challenges, such as how to make fire on stage and how to create giant puppets. Another interesting challenge was how to honour the original show and the expectations that some audience members would have, against creating our own original vision.

The directors did an excellent job blocking scenes and creating movement. Our choreography team kept the iconic ‘I don’t really want to do the work today’ moves but the rest of the show was entirely original choreography. Our fire torches were very high tech, with a bit of help from local company Cole Theatre Tech, we were able to create something quite unique. Our bases were 3D printed in our own Steamworks room, painted, adorned with paper mache and cellophane, and inside were fitted with mini ‘Arduino’ units, programmed to flash yellow and red LEDs from the top of the torch - a very interesting use of theatre technology.

Each student was part of two production role teams, they could choose from acting, directing, costume, makeup, set, props, sound and lighting. Each team collaborated within their own group and also with the other groups to ensure a cohesive production.

Along the way, students also documented their practice and this is a large part of how they are assessed for the task. Each group was faced with unique challenges that they had to overcome.

Theatre Studies really is a subject that truly exemplifies those 21st Century skills that employers are now valuing – collaboration, creative thinking, adaptation, clear communication, presentation, problem solving and use of technology.

Audiences loved the show, with consistent fantastic feedback coming our way. There were plenty of laughs, a few tender moments and great vocals. To produce a full two act musical in the time frame they did really was an incredible achievement.

A huge congratulations to the cast and crew and also thanks to staff and families that helped out and supported us through the journey.

We hope to see you back later in the year to check out our students presenting their monologue performances ahead of their performance exam.

“There’s no business like show business!”

LHS CAST AND CREW

Year 12 students

Jett Acuna (Acting and Set)

Brianna Birthisel-Mulready (Acting and Sound)

Tyler Borg (Acting and Lighting)

Jess Carden (Acting and Props)

Alysha Carvill (Costume and Makeup)

Bec Clark (Acting and Directing)

Paige Collitt (Acting and Makeup)