Australian drama explored in two plays
08 Jun 2016
n Term 2, Year 6 and Year 10 Drama students performed Angela Betzien's gothic fairytale, Children of the Black Skirt, and Richard Tulloch's translation of The Book of Everything by Dutch children's author Guus Kuijer after a term of rehearsals.
Drama teacher Tiffany Crittle directed Year 10 in Tulloch's translation of The Book of Everything, which tells the hilarious tale of Thomas Klopper who is "nine... almost ten" and lives in post-Nazi Holland. Thomas lives with his fundamentalist father, his mother and sister Margo, and his Aunty Pie lives down the road. Thomas doesn't see anyone else – all he sees are the hailstorms in the middle of summer and tropical fish in the Amsterdam canals.
The Year 6 performance of Angela Betzien's 2005 play took a much darker tone, exploring Australia's history through the spirits of children. The gothic fairytale follows three lost children who stumble across an orphanage in the bush. They become trapped in a timeless world, haunted by The Black Skirt, a cruel governess who wields a pair of enormous scissors, and spirits from convict times, WWII, the stolen generation and beyond.
The students stirred the audience with these hilarious, quirky and ominous plays with such skill and brilliant delivery!