The Wykehamist
Concerning Jun Plays
Jad Darkazally( D, 2021-): I do not claim to have ever been“ a drama kid.” In fact, my practical experience with theatre has never surpassed the boundaries of QEII. But I am a student of English Lit A-Level. And with this academic circumstance comes a strong group of views about all things literature, and by extension – theatre. In a house year group of almost exclusively STEM and Economics pupils, the responsibility of directing this year’ s Jun Play fell to me. I was joined by the brilliant Pran Busrapan( D, 2021-) on this endeavour – The Khalid El Sheikh to my Orlando Kennedy( both 2018-2023, D). Given the very fond memories of our own Jun Play, we were excited to see what we could produce with our Jun Men, however neither of us were quite prepared for what KFF had planned.
Arthur Marre( C, 2021-): As much as I too, would like to claim to never have been a“ drama kid”, it is possible that the evidence rather ruins the illusion. As of last night, I have finished my second play at Winchester in one short year, and the lesson that I should have learned by now is that the role of the director is one of immense importance. It is easy to forget just how much a play depends on its leaders, and I, led by the very best( KFF, AML), was potentially labouring under a somewhat prelapsarian haze when I eagerly accepted the role of co-director in the Jun Play without much thought of what it would entail. Fortunately, I was joining two far more talented dramatists and leaders in Hugo Poland-Bowen( C, 2021-) and Johnny Wyatt( C, 2021-). Without the advantage of my own memories of the Jun play, but haunted by many a similar experience in my own life, I was therefore excited- yet perhaps slightly misguidedly confident- about what to expect.
The first directors’ briefing in QEII was scandalous, to say the least. We were told that this year we’ d be shaking things up a little( needless to remind you that Wykehamists don’ t much like adapting to change): the plays would only be 15 minutes long. We would be given limited and pre-chosen props, set and wardrobe, and – most dauntingly of all – we would have to write them ourselves.
Just as we were coming to terms with this bombastic turn of events, we were told that there was yet another caveat: we would not be writing scripts, but devising them. I do not think it would be a stretch to say that KFF was the only person in the theatre who had any idea what this actually meant. For avoidance of doubt, I insert an encyclopaedic definition below.
Devised theatre is a method of theatremaking in which the script or performance score originates from collaborative, often improvisatory work by a performing ensemble.
The idea of theatrical genius being the product of anything other than hours of meticulous drafting, redrafting and editing caused some scepticism. For us directors, this also meant we would have to entertain the whimsies and“ improvisation” of a dozen hyperactive 13-year-old boys – Jun Men who I daresay would rather be elsewhere.
It was thus with some trepidation that we entered Musa at 2 o’ clock on a Saturday afternoon for the devising workshop. Greeted by the ever-enthusiastic LAMDA staff, and surrounded by equally sceptical contemporaries, we were instructed to abandon our shoes at the door and welcomed into what can only be described as a makeshift drama-cum-dance studio.
We sat, cross-legged, awaiting our warm-up.“ Explore your space”( LAMDA jargon for“ walk around without making eye contact with anyone”) was the eventual instruction given, but the caveats came thick and fast:“ you’ re now an old woman... you’ re now swimming through honey … now walk leading with your nose … now your knees … now your elbows … how does that make you feel?” Such roleplaying was met with varying degrees of enthusiasm( the Toyeites were loving it).
Next came the games. Red light / green light- but as mud creatures- did not go down so well. Splat was a favourite. As entertaining as it all was, after an hour of embodying abstract concepts and stomping around Musa, we were starting to wonder how any of this was going to help us write our plays.
Soon, however, it was time to move on to“ the real preparation”. Armed with some rather alarming photocard prompts, we were picked at random and told to devise a short, silent scene based on the cards in groups of 4-6. Cook’ s and Freddie’ s managed
9