Sugarland, a play showing at Mandurah Performing Arts Centre this Tuesday and Wednesday, focuses on the stories of youth in remote communities.
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To supplement their performance, the cast from the Australian Theatre for Young People have been visiting schools as they tour, and paid a visit to Mandurah Baptist College’s year 10 drama enrichment class on Monday.
Actor Jonas Thomson said the workshop mainly focused on “storytelling, and being able to take their own experiences and turn it into a performance, because I think that’s what Sugarland is about as well.”
Actor Callan Tasson said though Sugarland is specific to Catharine, he’s been amazed at the commonality across the school children the cast have worked with.
“So far all the kids that we’ve visited in all these workshops in all these schools have dealt with the same sort of issues that the characters in the play are dealing with,” he said.
“So like, drug abuse, self harm, homelessness, mental health... All the issues that are present in the play, it’s surprising how relevant it is to all of Australia.”
Mr Tassone said he felt as well as the cast teaching them about drama, they’d learnt a lot from the students as well.
“You’ll meet someone who’s very close to your character... ‘I like that thing you do, and I like how you sort of act,’ so you add different things to your character all the time. It’s awesome. They teach us, we teach them,” Mr Tassone said.
In the workshops the students played some drama games, then created a tableau, to represent an ordinary weekend in Mandurah.
After that, each group shared personal stories, and chose one which they all had to take turns at delivering to the class, to practice storytelling convincingly.
“We just gather around, play drama games, get them to loosen up, you know, have some fun, engage, just have a great time!” Narek Arman, one of the actors, said.
The year 10 students will go see the play on Wednesday evening, but the general public can view it for $35 a ticket at the following times:
- 11am on Tuesday May 24
- 7.30pm on Tuesday May 24
- 11am on Wednesday May 25
- 7.30pm on Wednesday May 25
For more information, visit the MPAC website.