Coming to a River Run Centre near you
When better to talk Shakespeare than in the middle of a mini-tempest?
Even in the middle of hail and freezing rain, our friendly barista at The Red Brick Café had to stack two milk crates for one of our party to use as a makeshift chair. The place was packed due to a writers’ open mic in the back room.
In the front room, I sat down with Heather Walker and Aaron Duncan.
Walker and Duncan both work at Rickson Ridge Public School; Walker teaches English, drama, and visual arts, while Duncan teaches music and drama. They are also the co-founders of It’s Happening Theatre Productions, which is a non-profit theatre company that provides students with the opportunity to work with established actors and musicians.
According to the two co-founders, the name of their theatre company arose very organically.
“There’s a point at which you get to [where] there’s no return. It’s happening,” Walker explained.
[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]…the students are unaware of how their lives are mirroring the emotions…[/pullquote]
From the sounds of it, a lot was happening. At seven hours of rehearsal per week since Thanksgiving and putting in additional time to generate funding and promoting interest in the show, the dedication and enthusiasm of these teachers is incredibly commendable.
Walker and Duncan strongly believe students’ lives can be radically changed through participating in the arts. So, unlike other acting opportunities, the young actors working with It’s Happening are not required to pay in order to participate in productions.
Created and directed by Walker and Duncan, It’s Happening’s first production, Yes! Shakespeare, has been eight years in the making.
The Ontarion asked Walker and Duncan how they would describe their play.
“It’s not as song-heavy as a musical. Usually, with a typical musical, for every scene there is a song. We don’t quite have that. […] Within every scene there is a number or another play happens within the play,” said Duncan.
“It’s Shakespeare meets Rocky Horror meets Grease,” added Walker.
Yes! Shakespeare is about high school students who are learning Shakespeare. In the first act, the students are unaware of how their lives are mirroring the emotions, themes, and ideas of the plays, but in the second act the connection is understood.
The show begins with introducing five Shakespearean plays to a grade nine class, which is part of the joke because students normally only learn one Shakespearean play per year in high school.
The five plays that the musical draws on are: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, and Macbeth. It also draws on As You Like It and borrows heavily from a number of Shakespearean sonnets.
The cast is comprised of an eighth-grade student, a handful of high school and university students, and three adults (the eldest was described as “fifty-esque”).
With such an eclectic cast, The Ontarion asked the teachers who their target audience would be.
“If you like Shakespeare, it’s a great play to come to,” said Duncan. He explained that he would give Yes! Shakespeare a rating of PG-13 because it is, after all, Shakespeare and you can’t change what Gertrude does with Hamlet’s uncle. He adds that younger audiences would still find the music entertaining.
“I think if you struggle with Shakespeare it’s a great [play to go to] because it might make you go, ‘Oh my gosh, you know what, I get it. This is just living. This is just life,’” said Walker.