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Photo by Andrea Cosgrove

Theatre Experiences

Andrea Cosgrove —

“I regard theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.” Oscar Wilde

In 2020 we had to be flexible about opportunities to view live theatre. Experiencing live theatre is a wonderful way of expanding our knowledge of ourselves and others. 

In NCEA classes we enjoyed watching three very different productions of 'A Midsummer’s Night Dream' by William Shakespeare filmed in front of live audiences. The play explores aspects of love and relationships. The director Julie Taymor's 2014 romantic comedy was lushly beautiful with a concept that built on dreams, bed’s and billowing white sheets. We looked particularly at set and costume design elements. 

The Shakespeare's Globe production, directed by Dominic Dromgoole, was shot live in 2013 in the modern reproduction of an Elizabethan thrust stage. It was wild, earthy and actors physically engaged with the audience gathered close around the action. In the London Theatre Company version, directed by Nicholas Hytner, the theatre becomes the forest - a dream world of flying fairies, contagious fogs and moonlight revels. The seating is wrapped around the action and some audience stood, walked and danced with the actors. We particularly found the flipping of Oberon and Titania’s roles fun and gave a whole new perspective to the random shooting of Cupid’s love shaft. In Term one 2021 we plan to share our understanding and enjoyment of this classic play with you, our Hornby audience.

Te Rama (Year 13) and Dani (Year 13) were our Court Theatre Ambassadors in 2020 which usually involves, ??. Unfortunately the pandemic limited opportunities but they saw 'A Streetcar Named Desire' by Tennessee Williams (directed by Mel Luckman) at the start of the year and 'Jersey Boys', a fun jukebox musical at the end of the year. Next year we are already planning to see 'Moana Jnr' at the Court Theatre and we look forward to many more live performance events.