Scotch College

Chaplains Corner

Chaplain's Corner

Drama and His story.

It was another dramatic moment. I was unsuspecting, at the start of my year 11 CE class. Together they assaulted me. It was three against one, Nick leading the barrage. 'Are you coming to our VCE monologues tonight?' 'Come and see our performances sir, there were less than 10 people in the audience last night'. 'Really', I asked, 'so few? 'Yes sir', said Ed, 'how would you feel if…' I had planned something else, but… 'Will you come then? Is that a promise?' 'I'm not making any promises Tim, but I'll see.'

I remembered 1995 when we were in London. We had just bought half price tics and the play was Miss Saigon. We were in the 'gods'. I had forgotten how high it was! How far away the stage, but we loved it. I'd been told since a child that 'The best actors always play to the gods', and so it seemed.

Of course, spoken words, without dramatic enactment, music, or colour, have a power of their own. My early theological training had emphasized this. After all, it pleased God to use the 'foolishness of preaching'. Furthermore, the Greek word for 'play acting' is connected with the English word 'hypocrisy'. So I was warned of the perils of acting. A life of drama has its own particular personal dangers. Would the real Clint Eastwood please stand up?

I had read of the perils of 'dance' and 'drama' applied to the church. The author was clear that both were anathema for the Christian community. I wondered later why he didn't refer to the passage in Ecclesiastes that says 'There is a time to dance'? Why, I wondered, had the author ignored the dramatic work of Ezekiel and Amos.

Today I know there is reason for both dance and drama. They have their own unique ability to enhance communication, with or without words. They have a power that is too important to overlook. I think this is particularly so in churches with a strongly cognitive or rational tradition (read Presbyterian) in an age where visual images are so dominant. They can help communicate every proclamation, including the Gospel.

So, the boys prevailed. I went to the monologues. I'd been only once previously and really enjoyed it. There were nine students from the year 11 drama class. Actually I'd taken an extra in term 1 and met all nine boys, so I was keen to see what they chose to do. Each student had five minutes alone on stage to communicate anything they chose to the audience. This is a tough exercise. It calls for variation of moods and voice, not to mention use of space and body, in a created vignette.

Ben kicked the evening off - as a Southern Evangelist who lost faith through the experience of personal tragedy. Dario, the war veteran, chatted about his life on the streets since the war ended. Ed's stressful day provided welcome comic relief from ours. James became the father he never wanted to be in his four act 'Cat's in the Cradle' classic.

John asked if we are the same people when naked, or do clothes really 'make the man'. Michael interrogated his prisoner in a fascinating variety of styles, gently enticing and ominously threatening. Robert, the honorable member for Somewhere, provided a second humorous cameo with the problems of (the previous governments) education and drug policies. Tim hunched and shuffling was an old man chatting about his school days. An eminent school, a bit like Scotch come to think of it. Nick had us all guessing his sinister motive as he sprang and spiraled in the asylum.

Oh, to be free! Anger, hatred, musing and feigned guilt. Would these obtain his release?

Congratulations all round. I know someone had to be marking, but I'm glad it wasn't me. I'm sure you all passed well. Continue to develop your dramatic skills and your confidence. I don't know what the Reverend James Forbes thought of drama back in 1851, but I'm confident that if you join your enhanced expressive capability with the Gospel that energized him he'd thank God for you. He'd probably even be proud to have the 'James Forbes Academy, Schools for Music, Drama and Communication' named after him!