Arts News

Year Eleven Drama

This semester, Year Eleven will be focusing on Realism in Drama.  We will be applying the ideas of one of the most famous practitioners of representational drama, Stanislavski, to our study of Ray Lawler’s 1950s play, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, about the relationships between men who work in the cane-fields of Queensland, and the women with whom they spend their time in Melbourne out of season.

Representational drama is all about absorbing the audience into the action so that it seems as realistic and authentic as possible.  In order to do this, students need to immerse themselves in their characters and their situations.  As part of our study, our students will also be attending a feature-length documentary on Mimma: A Musical of War and Friendship, which has music by Ron Siemiginowski and text by Dr Giles Watson, Year Eleven Drama teacher!  This will take place at Orana Cinema in Term Two, and it will give a chance for students to see a substantial proportion of the musical as it was performed in a concert version in Cadogan Hall, Chelsea, London in February 2022, starring David Suchet, Celinde Schoenmaker and Louise Dearman, as well as to find out more about the production process in a Q&A session with Dr Watson. 

Dr Giles Watson| Drama teacher