INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / MAY 28, 1991

 

 

College theatre students have fun, will travel

Bee bad guys and witches are
going to have a pretty hard time
again this year.

Last summer, every time the
evil witch Liverspot prowled
around Timmy, in Timmy the
Travelling Fool by Douglas
College’s student acting group
Troupe de Motion, legions of kids
would shriek “The witch is behind
you! The witch is behind you!”

The enthusiasm of children in
schools, parks and recreation
centres, plus praise from older
audiences for the group’s improv
shows, have earned the troupe the
most significant acclaim of all: a
1991 BC Summer Employment
grant to produce its sixth season.
The group’s eight members are
currently brainstorming ideas for
their new show, using a blend of
fairy tales, slapstick, audience par-
ticipation, children’s TV characters
— and a dash of hip humour to
nudge the older members of the
crowd.

“A lot of what we do is geared
to kids but we also use adult-
oriented shtick, like Bugs Bunny
does,” says performer Cameron
Forsyth.

The group formed in 1986 with
five students and has been in
demand ever since. Troupedemo-
tion gave 75 performances around
the lower mainland during a hec-
tic May-August season last year
and is presently winnowing
through more than 130 requests
for this summer. Its goal is to bring

South African educators

continued from page 1

Participant Gloria Britain of
Cape Town says there are
thousands of street kids in South
Africa, but no money or resources
to help them. Still, she says, “We
need to teach children that they
are important at an early age. The
children of today are the adults of
tomorrow.” &

 

 

 

 

Theatre students go through some Troupe de motion skits.

theatre into the community, while
providing work and experience for
College theatre students. Some of
that experience comes quickly
when facing kids in a park, says
performer Derek Metz.

“You always have to expect the
unexpected,” says Metz. “Some-
times kids jump into the show, or
throw grass, or throw rocks. You
have to stop them while staying in
character, and without taking a
hard edge to it.”

The young actors also learn to
think quickly while performing im-
prov shows for high school stu-
dents and, especially, at seniors’
homes.

“When we ask for improv ideas
from seniors some of them really
enjoy the sexual aspects of
humour. They'll yell out things
like ‘brassiere’ or ‘nudist colony’.
It’s a nice break for us because we
can move to the level of Theatre-
Sports, like the professionals in
Vancouver,” says Metz. Other re-
quests mean actors have to brush
up on their politics. “From the
seniors we also get a lot of Vander

Zalm hecklers or NDP bashers, all
in a fun-and-games sense. But
when you do gigs like that you
have to be up on news in BC and
the world. You have to read the
papers.” @

 

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=e you