Life is a Dream

Two years in the making due to the pandemic, this was an evident passion project for the director who had adapted the original script and worked with translators to ‘in his words’ understand the nuances and subtleties of the Spanish script and it must have been a relief to finally bring the play to the stage. It is a play full of intrigue and secrets about the characters and their relationships and gave the young people a play to get their teeth into.

All the cast worked very well together with excellent interactions and obvious team spirit. They had clearly understood the script which combined dialogue with poetry and developed their characters with maturity. The movement on stage had been well planned to avoid blocking and the director had added in some lovely physical theatre elements to enhance the action. 

The stage was a simple box style with a raised rostrum which worked very well for placement of the jail door and royal throne and gave different levels for the actors to work from and the sound and lighting were very effective in creating dramatic tension. The uses of tunics, jackets and cloaks worn over the actors’ clothes worked well and meant that for those who had to change costume on stage, the switch was easily managed.

This was a deep and complex play which the youth group presented with confidence and clarity, well done!

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