Children of conflict

The "carnage incomparable and human squander" depicted in Wilfred Owen's trench poems are familiar to students preparing for their English Matsec Examination. It's the sort of literature which teachers would not dream of tackling with students who attend the likes of Lorenzo Manché School in Floriana.

For those in the dark this is one of those institutions which cater for students whose marks score well below the entry threshold to an area secondary school, rendering a Junior Lyceum and eventually a sixth form college even more distant than a mirage. This means that the emphasis is more on creativity and handwork to encourage them to shine in non-academic subjects.

And yet, a few weeks ago a bunch of these very boys aged between 11 and 16 gave a brief but authentic performance at St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity of a select choice of Owen's poems interspersed with the sing-along Kemm trid bombi biex tispara l-kanun ta' Birkirkara and Gejja l-Mewt ghalik. Aptly called "Kunflitti", this was actually a rerun of the successful Prize Day performance held in mid-March.

The contradictory mix of street sass with a newly gained self-confidence was fascinating to watch and the boys were positively beaming at the end when a duo broke into hip hop to "Think about the Way" by Ice MC. Typical of their age they have no hang-ups about macho bragging. However, the headmaster remarked that up to recently they had been unwilling to receive Holy Communion during Mass at school because they resented being watched, even though they would have just been to Confession. A contradiction that speaks volumes of uneasy hearts, disturbed backgrounds and social stigmas.

The more you looked at their facial expressions, the more you could see that they had fully understood (not merely conveyed) the wounds of millions dead or maimed in Europe's worst apocalypse. The fiction of a war to end all wars had also struck a deep chord. A closer look still and there was no doubt that they knew the bitter tang of conflict. In contrast, the mention of war and especially the casualties of war freeze most of us into momentary dread. But once the headlines move on to another 'hot story' or desensitise us with their repetition, we go back to the highs and lows of our everyday lives which thankfully are a planet away from the orgy of barbarity and futile blood spilling that war really is.

As comforting as it may sound, "most of us" doesn't perfectly equate with "all of us". Indeed conflict bedevils the lives of countless families - children in particular who suffer atrocious neglect, domestic violence and all kinds of nefarious abuse. These are the victims of a travesty of love - innocent victims of an innately violent or warped disposition. For many of them home is worse than hell. It's almost inevitable that these children are branded as 'difficult' and that their school years are mired in a poor academic performance while paving the road to delinquency and criminality.

Significantly, these young boys could voice the horror, the pathos of poems which forever slammed chivalric visions of war with conviction not because they were first-class actors, but because "a dog-eats-dog world" is their living reality. The quick succession of slides deliberately shifting between scenes of both World Wars, Vietnam, 9/11 and its aftermath at the end of the mise-en-scène also emphasised the relevance of Mr Owen's poem's in our times.

"My intention with this group is not to create little actors or little prima donnas," Adrian Buckle from the Drama Unit states with soft-spoken vehemence. "What I am after is to offer these boys a new way to learn; a new way to let culture reach them.  What I hope in achieving is getting them to relinquish the Xarabank mediocrity and embrace literature and theatre."

Despite having substantial experience in conducting drama lessons and producing/directing Theatre-in-Education projects in various schools, Mr Buckle readily admitted in experiencing "a culture shock" when he first visited the Lorenzo Manché School last October. However, he soon "eased" himself because "their unparalleled enthusiasm and commitment" plus "unique diligence" revealed a startling "honesty beneath their rough nature." 

The set-up of the school's drama club clearly provided a sure boost. But Mr Buckle was determined to move away from teatrin and introduced a literary theme. "I realised that diluting themes would be useless so I decided to try to be as faithful to their vision as I could.  We chose war as a theme and after they came to see the Drama Unit Theatre-In-Education presentation on Macbeth, they asked to know more about literature. Mr Owen's poems came up as a natural progression."

Beautifully translated by John Suda, the boys seized upon them because they could genuinely empathise with the murky world of both perpetrator and victim of conflict. The enthusiastic response oiled the subsequent six months of hard work, often missing out on breaks to research the poems further. It was also heartening to watch a disabled boy take part upon his request and more so to note the other boys helping him on/off the stage. Their sense of involvement even led to one of them creating a poster to advertise their performance.

The works and methods of controversial playwrights like Edward Bond and Philip Ridley provided further inspiration. "As Edward Bond once told me during a workshop he led at the Drama Unit, "'It's healthier to portray violence in it's most horrible nature than to simply imply it. How can you condemn violence if you refuse to speak of it?'" Furthermore, these boys breathe conflict so they didn't shrink from portraying a blood-smeared scene though this may have raised a few eyebrows given that performers and audience are children. "Perhaps, shocking these pupils was the best way to reach them." Mr Buckle adds. 

There are other projects in the pipeline with the specific target of prodding these students to discover the richness and relevance of literature and get them thinking. The primary aim, however, remains inclusion and gaining self-esteem. "Drama does not only involve staging plays. Drama and even Theatre is also about education." Lorenzo Manché fully supports this mantra. The boys' enthusiasm and sense of achievement follows the Education Minister's motto For All Children To Succeed.

While boosting self-esteem through an activity like drama is a definite step forward, the reality of students barely able to read, write and count points to a broader canvas wherein the rot sets in during the primary years. Which is why there is no justification in perpetrating boredom, mismanagement and bad influences rather than an educational system that arouses curiosity and inspires motivation. At the same time, it is both unfair and simplistic to point fingers at schools. As the dedicated and tenacious headmaster of Lorenzo Manché School stated, students will only respond if they feel loved. It's easy to say that love should begin but not end at home. But to "see the world and see it feelingly" takes more insight and gumption.