BP News

Youth Theatre Corner

Whatever it says in the What’s On, my old friend Rob McCaffery is directing Oedipus & Antigone. The new adaptation of these two classic plays is by that great interpreter of Sophocles – me! Yes, I like to think that these works did not entirely languish unknown for two and a half thousand years until I got hold of them. Okay - seriously though, I have stayed very true to the current texts but updated the language and phrasing to suit a modern audience. For all you purists out there who may even now be reaching for a quill to complain – hold hard! The texts we think of as being definitive are no such thing - they are just assemblages of scraps, poor copies and the bastard versions that survived the fall of the Roman Empire. So we could argue that no one knows what the originals ever looked like anyway. I have kept the metre of the verse as best I can so it will certainly sound like a Greek play, with choruses and things. Rob is using a very physical approach so expect the unexpected with lots of exciting coup de theatres along, of course, with some jolly fine acting. From the 15th to the 17th March by the way, as you’re asking…

So what am I doing with my time, you may ask, while Rob is taking on the heavy-duty work with Big Spirit? I’m preparing New Boy for a London run during February, that’s what. You may recall from our studio production in 2006 that it stars Peter Hobday, Amy Bellwood and Charlie Woodcock who are joined this time round by Peter England and Natalie Gordon. Hurrah! Posters are appearing at the QMT so do come and support us – please.

As you may or may not know we have a small intake into Big Spirit in January to top up numbers for those who reluctantly feel they have to give over the Jan to June slot to exams. There are so many exams nowadays, all trailed as ‘the most important exams you’ll ever take’, it’s a wonder we get anybody coming down at all! Luckily most members carry on regardless and enjoy themselves. Anyway, there is always a little flurry in January as new people come along to audition. And it was during an audition recently that one girl said to me ‘I don’t like to put too much effort into acting, I’m laid back by nature’ When I said that that didn’t sound too promising as acting calls for lots of energy she replied haughtily ‘I don’t think I should be rejected for being honest’ Hmm, nice philosophical point - if she’d come along pretending to be hyper-kinetic, no problem but when she warns me that she’s a unit with low power output, I get all critical. In the end she elected not to come along anyway – her decision and not mine, as it happens – so no rejection required. Mighty searching of conscience later though to see if I’m a bit of a Simon Cowell when auditioning and decide – yes, I probably am.