By Shamayim Watson & Georgia Morris Hambling,
Year 10. Photos by Alex Janssens
I have been fortunate enough over the past few years to have performed
in a great many thrilling theatre performances and to have witnessed
many more. The recent production of “Totally Over You” was the latest in
a long line of stupendous performances at Garden International School,
which had the audience captivated and yearning for more.
The play, by Mark Ravenhill, is filled with laughter, gloom, music and I
dare say, pizzazz, when three rather silly girls dump their boyfriends
in the vain hope that they will soon become celebrities. The tables
turn, however, when the heartbroken and angry boys get their revenge by
pretending to be famous themselves when they form a band called
“Awesome”. By name and nature, their performance was indeed, awesome.
Josh
and Stian - “Totally cool”.
Usually you might think reviews of plays are written by a nondescript,
navy-suit-wearing, dull, anonymous bloke in one of the back rows, but this
one is different. I was there, on stage, looking out at the faces. I was
there with the cast as the climax of three months hard work finally hit
home. I imagine your questions bombarding me and I feel that it is only
right that I answer them. What was it like? How did it feel? Well, I am
going to tell you.
After doing some calming exercises with your friend you wait impatiently for
your cue. Then all of a sudden, you realise you are supposed to head onto
the stage right now! Your feet feel heavy and seem to thud as you step up
onto the large black boxes placed at the three entrances to the stage.
Blinding white (and occasionally blue and red) lights make you momentarily
dumbstruck. When you awaken from your split-second slumber you realise that
you are finally there, in front of everyone. But you don’t know who they
are, you forget what they are doing here and you are in character. You
ignore the audience and act.
Pria,
Peng and Georgia - “Totally over boys”.
“You never know when you go on stage whether you’re going to remember your
lines … that mixture of pain and pleasure they call ‘butterflies’ is what
carries us through the production.”
Me: Hello, Georgia
GG: Hello, BB
Me: So, let’s get to it … did you enjoy the play?
GG: Yeah, it was fun, like practice, rehearsals, and then the final
night was amazing.
Me: Really? What did you like best about it?
GG: The atmosphere.
Me: From the crowd or the cast?
Shamayim
& Georgia - “Totally engrossed”.
GG: (thinks) Both! Actually, I think the cast because they were so
excited to get it over and done with, like, the final night and the crowd,
the way they responded to the performance.
Me: How do you feel they responded? Positively?
GG: Yeah, of course they did! They loved it!
When the cast appeared on stage they were bedecked in modern teenage
clothing, in some cases entirely overdone. Long stripy socks, jeans, 70’s
style hair and luminous pink clothes decorated the girls, while the boys
went for a more stylish look of leather jackets, dark denim and button-up
shirts.
Shamayim
& Georgia - “A ‘blonde’ moment”.
Me: Did you like the costumes you had to wear?
GG: Yeah! I especially liked this one which is a bright pink kind of
jumpsuit … it was very me and I think it suited my character Sinita as well.
Me: How do you feel when you’re on stage performing?
GG: I feel excited, but then overcome with nerves at times.
Me: Do you have any special rituals that you go through before you go
on stage to get rid of the nerves?
GG: Like in the High School Musical?!
Shamayim
& Georgia - “What did you say?”
Me: What do they do there?
GG: (Georgia does strange hand movements and blows raspberries) … and
we also play the trust game where you fall back into someone’s arms.
Me: Who do you do that with?
GG: Well, you BB, Peng, Priya … basically the three other main female
characters.
Me: Why do you do that?
GG: So that we trust each other not to muck it up on stage and also
so that we know that we will be there for each other if we forget our lines.
Me: Have you ever forgotten your lines?
GG: Well, there’s one line where I say “and who’s gonna have their
babies, Winter-storm and Hawaiian-Breeze?!” but I said “Winter-Storm and
Hawaiian-Dream”. BB, you were giving me funny looks and I didn’t even notice
that I’d said the wrong thing! But we continued without hesitation, which
was good.
Me: What’s you’re favourite line in the play?
GG: I guess it’s “will I have a stalker?”
Me: Why?
Shamayim
& Kitty - “You must dump him!”
GG: Because it’s just so … silly! It’s just so unrealistic! I mean
who dreams of having a stalker? There are four girls who read a horoscope
which isn’t even theirs and they dump their boyfriends and are determined to
become celebrities! The idea is absurd! Hilarious!
Me: So how do you feel when you turn into Sinita? Do you feel any
different?
GG: (Thinks) No, I feel the same.
Me: So you must think that you have a lot in common to be as
comfortable as her on stage. In what ways do you relate to her?
GG: We have the same attitude, I guess. Like, the same stubbornness
if we don’t get what we want. The same dumbness as well.
Me: Lots of blonde moments?
GG: No, many blonde moments!
Stian
& Kitty - “It’s love really, you know”.
Sometimes, you get so into the character that you start thinking they are
real. They become a part of you, or do you become a part of them? What if
they were real? Sometimes Georgia seemed to think she was Sinita so I
thought it would be interesting to talk to her, as if she really was ...
play along kind of…
I have had the pleasure, nay, the privilege to interview a character from
the production, Sinita, whose tragic story and male orientated frustrations
she will be sharing with us. Sinita is a fourteen year old girl whose feisty
personality and stamina are two good reasons for her friends to admire her.
Me: Sinita, how did you feel after dumping your boyfriend?
GG: I felt like a bitch, because it wasn’t my choice to dump him …
argh screw Kitty.
Me: Why do you always listen to Kitty?
GG: ‘Cos I always have. Ever since I was young.
Me: So you’ve known her for a pretty long time then?
GG: Yep … since year 3.
Me: And when did Hannah and Rochelle come into the picture?
GG: Year 4.
Me: Wow … all three of you have been pretty tight for a long time
then. You do realise that it was Kitty’s horoscope you were reading?
GG: IT WAS?! How could she do that to us? She made us dump our
boyfriends for nothing!
Me: Yep … so did you think you all had the same horoscope or
something?
GG: Yeah! Of course!
Me: Wow. You really are dumb!
GG: What…?
Me: How can you possibly think that you all have the same horoscope?!
GG: Now wait just one second! I’m a well respected imaginary person.
You can’t talk to me like that. You wait until I tell Kitty that you called
me dumb.
Me: What will Kitty do? Does she often stick up for you in sticky
situations, the way you seem to stick up for her?
GG: Actually, no. She’s popular and the only reason we are friends at
all is because we do stuff for her and then say we’re best friends. I think
that the situation may have improved since we got back with our boyfriends
though. I think Kitty may have learned her lesson of not taking people for
granted.
Me: So before all this happened, there was no real friendship?
GG: You could say that.
Me: How do you feel about being used in this way?
GG: Well, I actually don’t notice that I’m being used. But now that
you’ve told me, I feel hurt … and annoyed. How can she treat everyone like
that?!
Me: I’m sure we’d all like to know the answer to that one.
But just like the play, all good things must come to an end. I really think
that this was a great performance, from everybody. The cast was superb on
stage, acting, singing and constantly going beyond their best. We were under
enormous pressure and victims of large quantities of nerves during the last
few days leading up to the final two nights, but we handled it with style
and sophistication.
This was in no small way down to our brilliant directors, Kasia Grisdale and
Berrin Schofield who both took on the production with vigour, strength and
good humour. They pushed and pulled us through every rehearsal and on the
night were incredibly supportive.
Music was by the man with endless energy, Mr. O’Shea. All three songs were
composed and written by Shane with each song emphasising, fabricating and
reflecting all the different kinds of energy and emotions that appear in the
production.
Ever since the audition the whole event has been great fun and a huge
success. I hope that it was equally fun and fascinating to watch. Hey, come
and see the next show down at GIS! You’ll be very welcome.
