So today All Ty's went to Mullingar to attend a drama competition today. In class Fódla we got to watch all the drama preformed by our fellow students and this is me review of the day :)
The competition opened up with a group doing a dramatised version of the well known poem, midterm break by Seamus Heaney ( click here to see the famous poem ). This poem is about the death of a little 4 year old boy and the emotions that took place during the funeral. The girls pro trade great emotional depth during the play as they gathered around weeping and mourning over the death of the infant boy. The lighting on the stage was very dim often the only source coming from a candle placed in front of the coffin. After family and friends gave their condolences the grieving sibling was left to weep by his brothers small and fragile coffin. Not seeing seeing the her brother in over 6 weeks their was an almost (very dim) but bright moment as the boy only looked to be in a slumber. Sadly the dark bruise on his forehead brought back the harsh reality of the scene. I will not forget the moment when we were shown directly into the the soul of the grieving sibling as she tortuously choked out the line " A four foot box, a foot for every year."
Next up was called What are you looking at ? a play that focused on bullying, rumors and the fact that even the worst of people need help sometimes. It all started with a girl being bullied by the school bully Jenny. If dealing with jenny isn't hard enough the girl is now also pregnant with jenny's boyfriend who deny's even knowing her. Left alone with the whole schools spreading rumors about her Amelia, one of jenny's "friends" lends a hand to her to help her trough her pregnancy. Soon enough the whole school admired her for being so brave about having a baby and even jenny's "friends" began to turn on her. Jenny's so perfect life on the outside turns out to be quite the opposite as the audience are let into her home to find that her parents have abandoned her for 2 weeks. The head strong, domineering Jenny is suddenly pro trade in a new light as drugs manipulate her mind into thinking ever one is against her and that she is nothing but a piece of dirt on the earth. She only bullied others to make her broken life feel better but in the end no one was there to give her a helping hand like Amelia helped her victim.... And Jenny dies of a drug over dose.....
The music the group chose to use in the play became very important as the lyrics told the audience how to feel and also what the characters where going trough. Every person involved showed brilliant acting skills and even tho it was a sad tale I would like to see it again. ( at this drama dissolved into a final black out, the backs of my eyes stung as I battled hugely to fight away the tears)
The third drama to be preformed was set around a song called concrete angel. ( click here for a link to the song concrete angel ). Now this is the drama that made my heart contract and left a steady stream of water fall down my cheeks. This drama tells a story of a 7 year old girl called Holly and her struggle to hold onto to life as her drunken other Victoria abuses her. Not even Holly's dad notices the blue and grey bruises that creep out from under her white cardigan. Slowly in school the once chirpy and bright Holly is falling behind as the fear of having to face another beating from her mother blocks her concentration. Holly's teacher begins to notice the bruises on her arms and informs her father. Unfortunately Holly's dad takes this the wrong way and storms out of her office in anger. Not expecting the sudden return of her husband Victoria is caught beating Holly in an alcohol driven rage. But .... time had run out. As Holly had tried for so long to hold onto life and to be brave against her mother, she looses this fight as she is brutally hit over the head with a glass bottle.... As the the bottle smashed into a hundred pieces so is holly's life. As Holly's dad is left left crumpled over his daughters body trying desperately to awaken her, the nearing ambulance sirens are only useless. In the closing scene family and friends of Holly gather around her grave mourning and admiring the brave fight this little girl put up with a smile always on her face. The story closes with her father talking of how brutally his daughters life was robed from her, and as the scene ends so does the torture that brave holly was put trough.
The Actresses in this drama had quality acting skills and caught the audiences breath with ever spoken word. The affects of Victoria beating holly were fantastic and so realistic even under the horrid circumstances. The lighting trough the play was always dim and the sound effects striking. Each ingredient in the play played a vital role into making it its perfectly polished performance..... and also made me tankful I brought tissues in my bag!
Last but not least The final drama also fitted around the awareness of bullying and how serious the consequences were. It all starts with two girls named Tubby and Tich. Tubby and Tich are not your everyday student. Just because they dress different and love school they are bullied by everyone around them. Always there for one another the two managed to battle trough it and have fun together with their knowledge. This is until all becomes to much to bare and Tubby moves schools. As she confronts her bullies, Tubby makes a new start in her new school and can now look forward to not being verbally attacked. Meanwhile the story isn't the same for Tubby. Left alone with no one to help, the verbal attacks evolve into Physical ones which slide under the attention of teachers in the school. Tich is finally pushed over the edge and begins to think the no matter what she did no one would even notice if she disappeared forever.
In the closing scene we see Tubby laying down flowers. Her dear friend Tich is dead. At only 12 years old her life was ripped away from her by the seriousness of bullying. As her only loyal friend Tubby is also the only one who notices her absence. Hopefully Tho Tich is now in a better place were she will be appreciated.
This final drama may have been last but defiantly not the least. Each actress really got into their role and even when they were not focused on the still acted as if the spotlight was on them. Alot of effort was put into this drama and it defiantly payed off as it was a brilliant performance.
All in all i really enjoyed our day out and i really do hope that our school does well in the competition because they really put in tremendous effort.
