It is the time of year that I start recruiting for the iGCSE Drama course and it is a time of year that I really enjoy. It is a tough time for those students who have to make choices about what iGCSE courses to choose, especially the ones who have an agony of riches, the ones who would achieve really good grades in whatever they choose.
Parents are very involved in their children's choices here in KL but another very important factor in helping to make up a child's mind is ambition. And boy oh boy there are some children with apparently strange ambitions. One student told me recently that she would not be allowed to do Drama at iGCSE as it did not match in with her ambition. That got me thinking. What did she aspire to do that could not be assisted by studying Drama? She's quickly enlightened me explaining that she want to be a petro-chemical engineer. Really? Is that really what 13 year olds dream of becoming? Luckily standing next to her was another student who swiftly brought the conversation back down to Earth. "Don't worry, Mr Lawrence," this other student said. "I don't have any ambitions so I can do what I like and I'd like to do Drama." Now that is much more like what a 13 year old should be saying and thinking.
In other Drama matters I really enjoyed watching some of our year fives and their play. They put on a spirited version of Hamlet, complete with musical numbers. I had never considered the possibility of having a Michael Jackson "Thriller" dance in or even a rendition of "Dem Bones" shortly after the entertaining lad who played Hamlet threw poor Yorick's rubber skull to his mates, but it was all good fun. My favourite bit had to be when the eponymous hero stabbed Polonius through the hall curtains and announced "Whoops. Wrong guy." William S would have loved it and so did I.
I also managed to see "The Dumb Waiter" this week at KLPAC. I accompanied one of my colleagues and seven iGCSE students and we were all treated to a very good interpretation of the Pinter classic. The cast and director had set their version in a basement room, which in reality was up three flights of stairs, but the mattresses and strewn litter did help set the scene. They also sat us audience around the edges of the room so that it was an up close and personal experience. I really like seeing plays that play with the space and then, in turn, challenge the actors and audience alike. This may have not been the best acted and directed version but it was so good to see someone taking a few creative risks, so well done to them.
The other Drama matter, apart from Drama reports, is Bugsy Malone. This year's school show is progressing nicely. The splurge guns work, the play just about runs smoothly at the moment, still eight days until opening night, and the cast know pretty much all of their lines. It is just the pies that we have to test out. On Sunday I was the proud purchaser of eleven cans of shaving foam. All I need now is someone to volunteer to be experimented upon.