Iceberg Factory -- The Edge Theatre
Thu, 3 June 2004, 06:10 pmWalter Plinge1 post in thread
Iceberg Factory -- The Edge Theatre
Thu, 3 June 2004, 06:10 pmThe Central Coast of New South Wales is humming with productions. About 80 kms north of Sydney, you'll find the Laycock Street Theatre -- as fine a playhouse as you will find, where everyone has a great view of the stage. In nearby Woy Woy you will find the Peninsula Theatre, or "Son of Laycock" -- a smaller scale theatre with a different stage orientation, but just as good for the audience.
On 2nd June 2004 I was able to go to Laycock Street to see a student production from The Edge Theatre Company, run by Paul Mason. The play, The Iceberg Factory, was an interesting study on youth suicide (the Central Coast has high suicide statistics). The teenaged theatre students were joined by older actors and actresses who played teachers in a school, where one student is bullied and taunted until she makes a stand by threatening to leap from a school building. Sadly, I can't provide names (a programme, please next time!), but the standard of this one-off production was excellent. The play presented flashbacks for each person who had pushed the girl to this stage, and lighting was sensitively used to indicate these scene changes. The only ornamentation on the stage was a scaffold. The young students were a credit to Paul Mason's tutelage. The main character was sick on the night, so her part was read, but the play did not suffffer because of this.
Following the shortish play, a local psychologist was brought to the stage to join the cast, and questions were taken from the audience. The young people in the audience tired of this before the adults, but it was still an effective and useful idea, bringing home with no little subtlety the nexus between theatre and psychotherapy!
A worthwhile theatrical experience for the audience,and hopefully for the students ...
On 2nd June 2004 I was able to go to Laycock Street to see a student production from The Edge Theatre Company, run by Paul Mason. The play, The Iceberg Factory, was an interesting study on youth suicide (the Central Coast has high suicide statistics). The teenaged theatre students were joined by older actors and actresses who played teachers in a school, where one student is bullied and taunted until she makes a stand by threatening to leap from a school building. Sadly, I can't provide names (a programme, please next time!), but the standard of this one-off production was excellent. The play presented flashbacks for each person who had pushed the girl to this stage, and lighting was sensitively used to indicate these scene changes. The only ornamentation on the stage was a scaffold. The young students were a credit to Paul Mason's tutelage. The main character was sick on the night, so her part was read, but the play did not suffffer because of this.
Following the shortish play, a local psychologist was brought to the stage to join the cast, and questions were taken from the audience. The young people in the audience tired of this before the adults, but it was still an effective and useful idea, bringing home with no little subtlety the nexus between theatre and psychotherapy!
A worthwhile theatrical experience for the audience,and hopefully for the students ...
Walter PlingeThu, 3 June 2004, 06:10 pm
The Central Coast of New South Wales is humming with productions. About 80 kms north of Sydney, you'll find the Laycock Street Theatre -- as fine a playhouse as you will find, where everyone has a great view of the stage. In nearby Woy Woy you will find the Peninsula Theatre, or "Son of Laycock" -- a smaller scale theatre with a different stage orientation, but just as good for the audience.
On 2nd June 2004 I was able to go to Laycock Street to see a student production from The Edge Theatre Company, run by Paul Mason. The play, The Iceberg Factory, was an interesting study on youth suicide (the Central Coast has high suicide statistics). The teenaged theatre students were joined by older actors and actresses who played teachers in a school, where one student is bullied and taunted until she makes a stand by threatening to leap from a school building. Sadly, I can't provide names (a programme, please next time!), but the standard of this one-off production was excellent. The play presented flashbacks for each person who had pushed the girl to this stage, and lighting was sensitively used to indicate these scene changes. The only ornamentation on the stage was a scaffold. The young students were a credit to Paul Mason's tutelage. The main character was sick on the night, so her part was read, but the play did not suffffer because of this.
Following the shortish play, a local psychologist was brought to the stage to join the cast, and questions were taken from the audience. The young people in the audience tired of this before the adults, but it was still an effective and useful idea, bringing home with no little subtlety the nexus between theatre and psychotherapy!
A worthwhile theatrical experience for the audience,and hopefully for the students ...
On 2nd June 2004 I was able to go to Laycock Street to see a student production from The Edge Theatre Company, run by Paul Mason. The play, The Iceberg Factory, was an interesting study on youth suicide (the Central Coast has high suicide statistics). The teenaged theatre students were joined by older actors and actresses who played teachers in a school, where one student is bullied and taunted until she makes a stand by threatening to leap from a school building. Sadly, I can't provide names (a programme, please next time!), but the standard of this one-off production was excellent. The play presented flashbacks for each person who had pushed the girl to this stage, and lighting was sensitively used to indicate these scene changes. The only ornamentation on the stage was a scaffold. The young students were a credit to Paul Mason's tutelage. The main character was sick on the night, so her part was read, but the play did not suffffer because of this.
Following the shortish play, a local psychologist was brought to the stage to join the cast, and questions were taken from the audience. The young people in the audience tired of this before the adults, but it was still an effective and useful idea, bringing home with no little subtlety the nexus between theatre and psychotherapy!
A worthwhile theatrical experience for the audience,and hopefully for the students ...