Dalziel teatro

From Wesker to Webster via West Side Story: student drama productions in English 1998-2010

Fiona Dalziel

Seminario CLAL’innovazione nell’apprendimento linguistico all’Università di Padova

Padova, 14 - 16 Aprile 2010

Dramatis Personae

Genre(s) on the MoveNaples, 9-11 December 2009

GIUSEPPE BRUNETTI, colleague to Fiona, and professor to Andrea.ANDREA PENNACCHI, a student of Padua, and director.NADIR BASSO, PIERANTONIO RIZZATO, directors.FIONA DALZIEL, SARA PEARCEY, gentlewomen, attending on the actors.RALPH CHURCH, a gentleman of America.MARIO MELCHIONDA, a gentleman of Naples.MARIANA BISSET, a gentlewoman of Wales, and artist.STUDENTS, the actors.FRIENDS, FAMILY, the audience.

Musicians and other Attendants.

SCENE: Teatro Popolare di Ricerca, Padua

The actors


Students enrolled on language degree courses (BA and MA) Students from other facultiesPhD students (English Literature)Erasmus exchange students (UK, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic)

3 credits now awarded

Spanish theatre group started performing in 1999(with collaboration of Giovanni Cara, Carmen Castillo, Borja Gómez)

German theatre group set up this year (with collaboration of Marco Rispoli)

Revue Sketches by Harold PinterDialogue for Three


2nd MAN: The snow has turned to slush.1st MAN: The temperature must have dropped.WOMAN: Sometimes I think I’m not feminine enough for you.

Revue Sketches by Harold Pinter

Dialogue for Three

The Kitchen by Arnold Wesker


This is a play about a large kitchen in a restaurant called the Tivoli. All kitchens, especially during service, go insane. There is the rush, there are the petty quarrels, grumbles, false prides, and snobbery. Kitchen staff instinctively hate dining-room staff, and all of them hate the customer. He is the personal enemy. The world might have been a stage for Shakespeare but to me it is a kitchen, where people come and go and cannot stay long enough to understand each other, and friendships, loves and enmities are forgotten as quickly as they are made.

Roses (the war of …)based on Henry VI, Part One

by William Shakespeare


The performance is a semi-serious study of Henry VI, Part One, by William Shakespeare. The play tells of the political struggles between English nobles leading up to the famous Wars of the Roses and terrible war between England and France, famous for the role of two heroic figures: the brave Talbot on one side and the heroine par excellence, Joan of Arc, on the other. The English theatre group set out to deconstruct the play, performing a selection of scenes and exploring the potential of the figure of the narrator. The whole group participated in the adaptation of the text and the narrative sections.

Roses (the war of …)based on Henry VI, Part One

by William Shakespeare


• Improvisation based on themes of the play (the kitchen staff comment on the political squabbles taking place in the court; the messenger scene)

• Familiarisation with text by means of story-telling techniques

• Choice of scenes to perform• Writing of narrative sections to link scenes

(technique used in subsequent productions e.g. Romeo and Juliet; The Merchant of Venice)

Challenges and benefits


Actors (and audiences) mostly non-native speakers of English (simplification and cutting of texts)Little or no acting experience (initial workshops)Large numbers who all require a “decent” part (one-act plays; plays with large cast; duplication of roles) Lack of male actors!!!

Improving language skillsEngaging with cultureSelf-expression and creativityWorking in a group

Let’s make a musicalWEST SIDE STORY

Genre(s) on the MoveNaples, 9-11 December 2009 Celebrating 10 years ...





What the critics said …

“the show was great! you all did such a good job, and Iparticularly admired the students' confidence and lack of stage fright. I think the director in particular must have worked very hard and deserves a special round of applause”

The Duchess of Malfiby John Webster


An ambitious project

• the “cutting” group (the author himself explains on the title page that he has restored the cuts which had been made by the theatre company in the as the play was deemed too long!)

• SIX duchesses• the Madmen/Madwomen scene• music by … The Beatles



The cut version

Some modernisation, but mostly original textLength of play dramatically reduced (to one and a half hours)No use of “narrators” as such, but exploitation of role of character Delio as an informer:

[…] Delio is the only major character who does not die at the end of the play, just as Horatio in Hamlet. As his role of informer requires, Delio often speaks to the audience rather than to the other characters; we decided to make this function explicit. Since I play Delio, I sometimes address the audience directly, while the other characters on stage temporarily “freeze” (Anna Santucci)



Six duchesses

Role divided into three (according to the age of the duchess as part demanding and cast large)All three appear on stage together after her death

Each of three duchesses has a “shadow” or alter-ego, dressed in bright red, while the “real” duchess is dressed in white

The Shadow embodies and speaks the Duchess’s deepest thoughts and fears (Anna Santucci)[…] her Double, prompter and counsellor in her hard moments, her Conscience (Beatrice Cinti)



The madwomen

Original:

SERVANT. There 's a mad lawyer; and a secular priest;A doctor that hath forfeited his witsBy jealousy; […]

Our version:

SERVANT. Madwomen all, they came, number of four […]A lonely teacher is outraged to seeDenied her role, her learning underratedAnd asks: what good has ever come to meFrom working hard to be so educated? […]

DESIGNER. Years and years of hard work and sacrifice … and look at me now! HOUSEWIFE. [singing and dusting] I want to break free …BROKER. I started work as a receptionist …TEACHER. [speaking very bad English] Be quiet … listen to me … Don’t do that ….



Music by the Beatles

The Duchess secretly marries her steward, Antonio, without telling her brothers, Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria and the Cardinal

You’ve got to hide your love away

One night, the Duchess gives birth to their sonA Hard day’s Night

Ferdinand refuses to give Bosola his reward for killing his sisterYou never give me your money

The Carninal kills his lover Julia by making her kiss a poisoned bookJulia





Final comments


Performing at the theatre was a unique experience: we were actors, we improved our English and, above all, we were a group of friends. We shared happy moments and bad moments, too. We were no longer ourselves, instead we were Antonio, Delio, Bosola, the Duchesses and the Madwomen and the theatre became part of us.

What we performed was ‘our’ Duchess […]

The Repertoire


Harold Pinter - Revue SketchesArnold Wesker - The KitchenTim Stoppard - The Dissolution of Dominic Boot, If you’re Glad, I’ll be Frank, The Fifteen-minute HamletWilliam Shakespeare - Henry VI, Part OneWilliam Shakespeare - Romeo and JulietTed Hughes - Tales from OvidWilliam Shakespeare - The Merchant of VeniceOne-act Plays including Three tall Women and The Sandbox by Edward Albee and Landscape by Harold PinterWilliam Shakespeare - Twelfth NightArthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim - West Side StoryJohn Webster - The Duchess of Malfi

Dalziel teatro

Education

harold pinter

john webster

william shakespeare

william shakespeare

lets make

revue sketches

narrative

anna santucci