SAC AND DSG EXPLORING LOVE:
There is always great excitement when it comes time for the annual school production. First the auditions. Everybody is excited about the prospect of making the cast list and this year was no exception. Then the rehearsals; when the boys and girls need to juggle time to do homework, sport and spend most evenings in the dance studio or hall to practise.
After the runaway success of last year's Happily Abba After, the creative team at St Andrew's College and DSG decided to go avant garde this year. "We need to stretch the learners and give them the opportunity to experience different genres of theatre, from conceptualising through to performing," says Bauke Snyman (Head of Drama, DSG). Hermien Potgieter, dance teacher and choreographer, has put together a collage of work, titled: Magpie love(d). With a cast of close to 40 boys and girls, the phenomena of falling in (and out) of love is explored.
Sheena Stannard, Sarah Seymour and Kyle de Boer took the Greek myth of Orpheus, and through a workshop process have created a tale of lost love in Orpheus & Eurydice.
These two works will be performed as a double bill at the Rhodes Theatre. The preview performance will be on Wednesday, 26 May with the opening on Thursday, 27 May. The run will end on Saturday 29 May and tickets will be available from the SAC reception (after 2pm).
Magpie love(d) and Orpheus & Eurydice
Please click on the thumb nails to enlarge
Myths are allegorical and sacred stories describing the transcendental experiences that reside within us all. They resonate deeply with the human psyche as they are the stuff of the dreams and fantasies that emerge from our subconscious minds. The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is a myth from ancient Greece. It is a story about how music was given to humankind, but it is also a story of irretrievably lost love. We have adapted the original story, in which Orpheus was given the gift of music by his father, the god Apollo. His mother was the Muse Calliope, and his music was so beautiful that it could tame the natural world. He falls in love with a wood nymph, Eurydice, but she is bitten by a snake in the forest (some versions say on their wedding day) while she is running away from the lascivious attentions of the lusty rustic god, Aristaeus. She dies, and her spirit goes to the Underworld. Orpheus is heartbroken and determined to get her back, and although no mortal is allowed to cross the river Styx (which surrounds the Underworld) on the ferryman Charon's boat, he charms his way to Hades with his music. His sorrowful, sad song lamenting his lost love moves Persephone, the Queen of the Underworld, and Hades, the King, allows Orpheus to take Eurydice back, but on the condition that he does not turn around to see if she is following. But on their journey back Orpheus cannot hear her footsteps because shades make no sound; he loses faith and looks back, thereby losing her to the Underworld forever.
