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Here is the entry about Beloit Memorial High School Theatre
found in the October issue of Plays International, a magazine that primarily
serves to review plays and promote live theatre.
"It was rewarding to see the
spirit of Bertolt Brecht inspiring a group of high school students
from Wisconsin to present a witty, playful production of Goldoni’s
The Servant of Two Masters. While other school companies in
the city were using the Commedia dell’arte form to (literally) mask
crude acting, members of the Beloit Memorial Theatre moved beyond
archetypal heightened reality to an approach that would have
delighted their mentor. From the moment that the impossibly brassy
female stage manager berated the lighting crew over colour balance
and an unwitting audience member was asked to fill in as prompt, I
knew this was going to be inspired Brecht with a hint of Michael
Frayn’s Noises Off. The constant asides to the audience were
genuinely spontaneous, the highlight being when the tourist unwise
enough to have volunteered as prompt was asked for a line only to
find his copy had been mutilated. With a French’s Acting Edition of
the text in my rucksack I was tempted to up the improvisational
ante, a challenge to which this quick-witted troupe could surely
have risen. At a low point in my trip, the company revived my
interest in youth drama by proving as playful as dolphins."
Reproduced with the author's
permission:
Jeremy
Malies
Plays
International
+44
(0)1323 872344
+44
(0)7951 364957
www.playsinternational.org.uk
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