The top? The very highest part?
Here at Yawazzi, we start 2010 with doing a new old show. Under the Stars, Above the Tree first saw the stage in 2008, but the idea for it was cultivated while teaching drama to Grade 1s at Windsor high when Jon and I were doing honours. Two years in the making, a new cast, a mini international festival have all come down to the performances at Tabula Rasa from the 21st to the 23rd of Jan.
As a director, one should always stand and feel proud of what they have put on stage. I do believe that more often than not, each director knows of parts or sections, characters or scenes that they did not quite direct or should I say master. Rarely does a director get the chance to revisit the same play again and, imparted with more knowledge and experience, direct it one more time. This is the third version of the play and I think that from this vantage point, I can see forever.
Important thing to note is that, as a director, you only got here as a result of the past: the present show is a product of the previous versions, cast members, and ideas. Andrew Laubscher and Jon Keevy as performers were the alphas in all of this, because they lay the groundwork down so that Marty Kintu and Mathew Lewis could step on and climb the tree. Brydon Bolton’s music remains the key device in transporting the audience to this world of the giant tree. But more than anything it is the continuing attention to detail of Jon Keevy, as writer and live animator, that gives the play the enchanting storybook quality.
Ironically, one of the themes of the play echoes the fact that we must be aware of our past, and realize that only for a while we are just the latest instance of it. The text of the play, the journey of the boy, the production process mirror each other. In this respect. After us the line might carry on, but it wouldn’t have, unless we, now, had done it for us.
And with the start of a new year, it is a great time to feel so good about something you have achieved creatively. It feels like you got one under your belt and you can only get better from this. There is a lot to do in 2010, a lot of things to achieve, and quite a few trees to climb.
The pity is that the future of the show is unknown. It stands somewhere between commercial children’s theatre and critically appreciated fantasy for adults, and thus gets lost on the theatre programme. But all those who have seen it, have sat in its magic and we can only hope that we will get the opportunity to showcase it to kids aged 7 to 77 more in 2010 and beyond. It is more than ready.
Under the Stars, Above the Tree – teaser
