Getting a taste of theatre

Today's corporate and wired world has certainly opened up unprecedented new horizons for our students. It is also dimming the lights on the study of literature though ironically there has never been such a concerted effort to rediscover the joy of story telling. Perhaps it's not such a paradox after all, since nothing is more necessary than when it is labelled as unnecessary.

Some people assert that literature has been under the axe since critical theory pushed it to the backseat, though again the latter offers fascinating lines of argument. What has certainly been a demolishing force is the myopic choice of a good number of fossilised texts on school syllabuses which do the very opposite of encouraging students to revel in a page-turner as signified dances with signifier. The killer instinct reaches a peak when teaching plays stripped off their dramatic dynamics - that's reading a play like a novel rather than watching it unfold in performance. Is it any wonder that most of our children grow up totally in the dark of theatre?

This preoccupation has been giving the itch to the team involved in the Theatre-in-Education programme to tackle the bull by the horns. So along with its ongoing projects that dramatise several hot topics with the primary aim of spurring debate among teenagers, it has gone by its name by spotlighting the plays as well as short stories of the Russian Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) for 13 and 14-year-olds. This initially struck me as a strange, possibly even an audacious choice since Chekhov is unknown territory unless somebody picks up his work out of interest or as part of a Theatre Studies degree.

At the same time, nothing beats the calculated risk of total surprise to hook students' interest. With Chekhov they were in for an intriguing mix of dispassionate objectivity and compassion for people struck by tragedy as a relentless undertow in their everyday life. And although what galvanises and saps the human condition is dateless, Chekhov's plots are rooted in long gone Russian town life.

Talking to Adrian Buckle, one of the drama teachers at the Drama Unit shed more light on how Chekhov was made relevant to a group of third formers.

Why Chekhov to start with?

"The whole idea of this project was to introduce students to theatre. Chekhov is a classic, one of the greatest playwrights ever. Also, some of his shorter stories are so amusing that they provide perfect material to introduce non-theatre goers to theatre. [Mr Buckle speaks with tried and tested nous for as co-founder of Unifaun Theatre Company, he launched his highly acclaimed productions two years back with Neil Simon's comedy The Good Doctor (1970), a comedy inspired by Chekhov's works.] I remember that before each show I would ask the students to give me the names of playwrights they knew. They would only come up with Shakespeare and some Maltese counterpart. Some didn't even know the meaning of the term "playwright". We hope that with this Theatre-In-Education project, kids will start appreciating theatre more. Drama Unit Education Officer, John Suda, was very supportive of the idea and very helpful, especially when it came to translation. Another thing that convinced us to opt for Chekhov was that his work is so rich in social issues, and that it provides fertile working ground for discussion, as Ray Camilleri, Director of Curriculum, rightly pointed out to us."

Which excerpts did you dramatise?

"We dramatised a series of short stories and one-act plays. However, we also took excerpts from some of his major works like The Seagull, translated them and adapted them into a script suitable for kids."

Did you take any liberties with the text?

"We transposed the excerpts to modern times. But we tried to keep as faithful as possible, especially in the translations. We went for a minimal set but used a contemporary set up."

What did you find most challenging/fascinating/frustrating in pulling through this production?

"The scripts are fascinating. Chekhov is, after all, a classic playwright. It was frustrating that a number of head-teachers found this project irrelevant. Here, we are in a situation where the government has to introduce a subject like Systems of Knowledge to give our students some cultural background and then, when we try to provide some cultural input at secondary school level, we are blocked by a small number of heads. On the other hand, those who did send their students commended the project. Some teachers also commented that such projects were useful also to them, not only the students. It was also gratifying to receive positive comments from our direct superiors: John Suda (E.O. Drama), Ray Camilleri (Director of Curriculum) and Cecilia Borg (Director General). These people give us confidence and confidence helps us improve our work, especially in our field, where creativity is the order of the day."

What was the students' response?

"The students enjoyed it immensely. Many accepted that theatre is not something worth missing on. This was our goal in the first place."

Any other authors in the pipeline?

"We plan our next scholastic year at the end of this. However, I can say that we are thinking about doing some more Shakespeare for schools and a project on Oreste Calleja. The Chekhov T-I-E too could be repeated. But it is all proposals for the time being."

If these plans see the light of day, we might finally have a laudable curtain raiser within the National Curriculum. More so, if it offers a combo of classics and contemporary, of foreign and Maltese dramatists.