Anne Oakes, a teacher at the New School, enjoyed the summer
production of “The History of Rome” so much that she invited us to the school. On a beautifully sunny
20th of March 2002, The Miracle Players performed outdoors on the school grounds for an audience of approximately 100 children aged from
three to eleven.
Everyone participated in preparing the stage for the "The
History of Rome".
|
|
|
While the elders figures out the logistics.... |
...the younger eagerly thought better and showed their own
initiative. |
There was even a little testing about people's knowledge of
Roman history. |
Finally everything was set for the unfolding saga of "The History of
Rome". There remained only one small problem. The actors were on the
wrong side of the stage!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The physicality of the acting style and the use of children’s
toys for props renders the show good fun for a young audience, especially the
parts where their participation is required.
The only criticism we received was from a young boy who was
disappointed that we showed Caesar being killed on the steps of the Senate
house. As we were using Shakespeare’s text at this point we went for the
literary rather than the historical accuracy. But we have to give credit where
credit is due and confess that Shakespeare did get it wrong. In fact, Caesar was
assassinated in the theatre of Pompey. Bravo!
The Miracle Players extend a warms thanks to Anne Oakes, the staff and the
students of the New School for the invitation to perform. We had a great time!
(Especially Denise who finally found an audience that was smaller than she is!)