At the end of Year 5, our drama teacher, Ms. Stickel, showed us another play we were originally planned to perform. It was based on the perspective of the forgotten “Hufflepuff” students in Harry Potter and was written as a parody. However, many of us were not particularly enthusiastic about it. Some students commented that it “sounds like it’s written by old people trying to be young” and that “the play is trying too hard to be funny.” But luckily, Ms. Stickel showed understanding and offered to look for another play over the summer. Several of us wished for one where we would get fancy, dramatic costumes, and with La Bête we got it all: large, elegant dresses, elaborate costumes and a story that we could all enjoy and develop together.
La Bête was very challenging: it contains advanced vocabulary, a large amount of text, and especially long monologues. Despite this, class 6LM managed to complete it successfully by working together as a team. We recorded our lines to be able to listen back and study even better; many students even found that the distinct rhyme scheme, iambic pentameter, helped them remember their lines. Still, we were grateful to be able to cut some minor parts, as the play would have taken way too long and we would have had monologues, just one person talking, as long as 30 minutes!
Although both classes performed the exact same script, the final productions could not have been more different. The characters were interpreted in unique ways; for example, the princess in the class 6L production was portrayed as powerful and composed, carefully choosing her words and movements from the start. In contrast, the prince in the class 6M production appeared naïve and playful at first, before later becoming dangerous and moody, changing the character’s whole influence and stage presence. The somewhat vague description of most characters left it to us actors to insert ourselves into our characters and slowly figure out how they would react, speak or move around. This gave us the opportunity to act completely differently from our real personalities and helped us to really get immersed in the story and have fun while performing.
Along the way, we learned that after rehearsing a play multiple times, it is important to trust our abilities and enjoy performing the piece. We also discovered that acting is not just about speaking lines, but about giving them meaning through actions and reactions. Looking back, some of us realized that learning lines earlier would have been far more helpful than just starting the day before, as you wouldn’t achieve the same amount of understanding and connection to your character, so it was a little too risky. Furthermore, we learned that understanding a character requires becoming familiar with the script in detail, including the relationships between characters and the way they change and develop throughout the play.
All in all, the production of this play was a wonderful experience for us, and we all agree that it was a great choice for our last LISA drama performance!
Lina Sini, 6M
Selma Mair, 6M
Ella Preiner-Hohenwarter, 6L
