Blog Post by Louise Michell
“Miss, we have heard the school production is being cancelled”
This is an often repeated quotation that I have heard whilst directing a school production. It comes at the moment in the rehearsal process when students know that the deadline of learning lines is impending and that they will be soon performing in front of a live audience. Fear and self-doubt begin to set in amongst the cast and they feel it would be better for everyone if the production was cancelled. Risks of performing live can be avoided. Embarrassment is negated. Mistakes never happen. Reputations remain. Right?
It is during this stage in the process that my role of a director is to reassure and to build resilience amongst the cast. Students need to have that self-belief (or be given it!) so that they can achieve what they have set out to do. I often tell them real stories from past school productions in which students have missed out a whole scene and somehow managed to slot it back into the performance. Can you imagine?! Then there’s the one in which students who have forgotten their lines. As in ‘completely forgotten’ them… but with the help of others in the cast the performance still carried on. And the one in which the set was falling over due to design problems but miraculously on the night they were fixed during the interval! All of these occurred without the audience even knowing. The show must go on!
I remind the students that it is a live performance, and it is inevitable that there might be things that don’t go to plan. Incidents like these even occur in West End theatres. But this is what makes theatre so unique and exciting to watch, it is the unexpected of the unknown that keeps the audience intrigued and entertained. Students need to be given reassurance and they need to be reminded that the end result is almost within reach. It is only a fingertip away. By insisting that giving up is not an option, resilience builds. Yes, resilience builds for the school production but how do you think they might react later when they have to learn a short speech for their English assessment? Or if revising for an exam and the answer they need isn’t forthcoming? Or taking part in a sport event, and the other side has just put four straight goals past them? It is a life skill that we can all take part in building. We can all take part by offering challenge, by offering an open door towards support, but by raising the bar incredibly high towards ‘escape’.
In drama productions I constantly bang on about working as part of a team, not just amongst the acting cast but with the student back stage and lighting crew – everyone’s involvement is essential to ensuring the success of the final performance. Having students involved in helping to paint the set design, promote and advertise the performance, assisting with front of house on the performance night all help students to realise that they are working together. They all share in the successes, and because we all support each other, we all share in gaining skills around ‘resilience’.
This year the drama department has been very fortunate to again be selected to take part in the National Theatre Connections Scheme in which students perform a brand new play commissioned by the National Theatre. It will be first shown at Meden School and then at Doncaster Theatre. This is an incredibly exciting opportunity that increases ‘cultural capital’ amongst our students. Students will get the opportunity to work with a director from the National Theatre and also see how a regional theatre works by shadowing the roles of the lighting and sound crew and the stage manager. The cast spend a full day at Doncaster Theatre experiencing a technical run-through on a professional stage and then performing in front of an audience. Meden students will also get to watch other theatre groups and schools perform other plays commissioned by the Connections scheme. This process of team-building, school production, work-shadowing and large-scale dramatic production offers challenge, support, and a great chance of success.
When productions cease, and the ‘wrap party’ has barely been tidied, there is monumental self-belief amongst the cast and crew. At this time, there is another quotation I always hear from students too:
“That was awesome Miss, I want to perform that again, when can we go on tour?!”
