What a drama! – Englische Theateraufführungen für unsere Klassen
Ein Theatererlebnis der ganz besonderen Art hatte sich unseren SchülerInnen bereits am 28.09.2022 mit dem Auftritt der Theatre@school in unserer Aula geboten. Diese Theatergruppe im Kleinformat begeisterte die 8- und 9-Klässler mit dem Stück „Monster Moments“ sowie die Oberstufe mit „Life Online“.
Doch dem Leistungskurs Englisch der 11. Jahrgangsstufe reichte das noch nicht aus: Er ließ sich am 03.11.22 von einer faszinierenden Interpretation des Werkes „Animal Farm“ (George Orwell) unterhalten und inspirieren. Den Schauspielern der American Drama Group gelang es, die ZuschauerInnen in ihren Bann zu ziehen und sie regten damit so manchen Gedankengang in den Köpfen der SchülerInnen an.
Einen Erfahrungsbericht dazu ist in englischer Sprache diesem Artikel angehängt.
“All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.” ~ George Orwell (1903-1950)
On Thursday, November 3rd, 2022 at
about 9 o´clock in the morning the English
advanced course from Mrs. Maly met in
front of the Mecklenburg State Theater. The
overall mood was a mixture of yawning
tiredness because of the early hour and
plenty of hand rubbing in the coolness of the
November breeze. However, this did not in
the least dampen the slight hints of joyful
expectation some of us carried in their
hearts. We had been looking forward to
seeing George Orwell´s famous fable
“Animal Farm” brought to stage for quite some time, even though we did not have the merest
clue what was awaiting us.
Finally the doors were opened and dozens of students from different schools in
Schwerin streamed into the elegant entrance hall of the theater and further up the spiral
staircases to search for their seats. When at last everyone had found a place in the delicately
arranged rows of red velvet chairs and the dimmed lights went out completely, a wave of pure
excitement overwhelmed me. As it was my first time ever to be confronted with the classic
beauty of this room and the sight of the wide black planked stage, which was lighted by
several spotlights, I was more than a little nervous. The low whispers that filled the room
assured me that my reaction to the ambience was not somewhat unusual.
Soon the audience was thoroughly captured by the actors of the American Drama
Group, which showed by the fact that often not a sound was to be heard from the room full of
16 to 18 year-old teenagers, what – you may will agree – is an almost uncommon state of
behavior. Yet after one hour, that had gone by in no time, a burst of applause shook the
ancient walls of the theater. When we left the building shortly after and enjoyed some free
minutes before we had to go back to school, we rarely found words to express what we had
just witnessed.
On the next day in the English lesson, after we all had had some time to think and
sleep about our experience, Mrs. Maly asked each of us to shortly summarize our impressions
in one or two sentences. What has been said there complemented the thoughts which went
through my mind during the play quite well, although I had nothing more than a few
memories of Grimm´s Fairytales stage plays, which we used to visit in elementary school, to
compare them to. Nonetheless, the impressing acting skills, how easily the actors switched
between playing animals and men, and were able to transfer emotions to everyone in the
audience, paired with their astonishing performance of the song “Beasts of England” spoke
for themselves. Everything had been felt between the extremes of laughter and the need to
cry. We further agreed that the stage design in its simplicity had been vastly inventive and that
the smooth transitions from one set up to another, which were done entirely by the actors
themselves, had amazed us. Some referred to the play as having left a feeling of
embarrassment and cruelty, what I can totally understand as well. To see grown men begging
on their knees for mercy, not daring to openly complain about the lack of food, is nothing to
be processed easily, especially when you are as sunken into the story as some of us, myself
without a doubt, were.
For when “The 7 Commandments of Animalism” slowly began to change, one after
the other, and the whole well-intended revolution went astray, I was sure: I will never-ever in
my life trust a pig again!
To get back to serious, it would have definitely been less confusing if I had known the
novel from 1945 and the historical background before, but this day was the best example for
how mighty theater plays in general, and especially the story of “Animal Farm”, are, and that
you can understand the message of it without already knowing it in detail.
Of course, I immediately afterwards began reading, or rather rushing through, the
fable from George Orwell, also in order to be able to compare novel and play for myself, and
it only solidified what I had presumed:
“Animal Farm”, for it is now nearly 80 years old and the historical background of the
Russian revolution even further in the past, has lost nothing of its actuality and, for sure, will
not lose any of it as long as the humankind is living on this earth. Even without analyzing the
problematic society of “Animal Farm” in detail, you will see remarkable similarities to
today’s society and to the inevitable development of every group, if no one has a close look
towards the handling of human rights and the law. “Animal Farm” proves once more how
difficult it is to hold up a stable democracy besides the daily struggles of life and that freedom
is one of the basic needs of every living thing.
In conclusion I would say that, even though this theater play had something of a
disturbing and serious touch, I would unquestionably recommend it also as an entertaining
and memorable event that should not be missed if you get the chance to visit it. Maybe it is
the appeal of dystopian novels in general or “Animal Farm” in particular but I would not
hesitate for a second if I got to see it again someday.
Rieke Jelinek, 11th class, November 13th 2022
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