School Production Pushes Boundaries For Young Actors, Audience and Director

Tickets are now on sale for the Year 13 Rangi Ruru drama students' performance of 'Crave', a one-act play by British playwright Sarah Kane and directed by the Rangi’s Director of Theatre Arts, Robert Gilbert.

The play reflects a stylistic departure from Kane's previous works, notable for its lack of staged violence that is a hallmark of the author's previous work. Kane took her own life shortly after writing her fifth and final play, 4:48 Psychosis. She never saw 4:48 Psychosis performed.

The playwright doesn’t provide context, stage directions or descriptions of characters. The sex and gender of the four characters (A, B, C, and M) is only identifiable from context within the play. Much of the delivery of the text is left up to directorial interpretation which Robert Gilbert says makes it a challenging play for everyone involved and also incredibly rewarding.

“’Crave’ presents pieces of the human psyche through fragments of speech which presents a great challenge to actors and a director while also being hugely liberating as the text demands engagement on so many levels,” he says.

Rangi Ruru will take ‘Crave’ to The Brisbane Arts Theatre Drama Festival this month (18-21 September) and Gilbert says his cast can match it with the best on any stage, anywhere.

“These are the same girls who last year won Best Production at the Norfolk Island Theatre Festival for Bottom’s Tale – excerpts from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the opportunity to present this work at the Brisbane Arts Theatre Festival will not only be a new challenge for us but also inspire the girls to keep reaching for the stars,” he says.

In 2012, Year 13 Rangi Ruru students won multiple drama awards, including Best Production at both the District and Regional NZ Theatre Federation Festivals, for their production of Kane’s 4:48 Psychosis.

Listings information:
‘Crave’: 17 September at The Rangi Ruru Theatre, 7pm Tickets $20. Available from the school office, ph 983 3700. There's one show only so be quick as tickets are selling very quickly.

R16 Language and content may offend, recommended for mature audiences only.

ENDS                        www.rangiruru.school.nz