Review by Lesley Finlay
‘Come up on stage. It’s the Theatre Royal Haymarket, get used to it!’ Such was the gently supportive encouragement for the drama students who joined this brilliant session led by the supremely talented director and designer Melly Still.
The session was part of the offering from Masterclass, a small charity that has offered free classes and workshops to young people since 1998. Held during the day at the beautiful Theatre Royal Haymarket, young people (and those over 30, for whom there is a small charge) can enjoy workshops with some of the leading names in theatre.
Melly is a master of her craft, and has forged successful stage collaborations with the poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy. At this session, she talked through her creative process involved in staging Rats’ Tales with particular reference to Invisible, one of Duffy’s stories from her collection The Stolen Childhood & Other Dark Fairy Tales.
The students listened with rapt attention as Melly explained how she found a way to tell the tale of the Pied Piper with other stories in a coherent way for adults and children. Firstly she makes no distinction of age or experience – it is always, always about the story – ‘Fairy tales have big themes and help us to manage experience; think of them as a gift, a shared event.’ She talked about the rehearsal process including her role as a director through to design and performance. Calling six students on stage – soon joined by almost everyone else – Melly demonstrated a rehearsal technique of telling the story as a group, which helps to keep cast and creative on track.
While the content of this Masterclass was undoubtedly useful to young people the opportunity to work as an equal with a world class practitioner of the art is gift that should stay with them as they forge ahead in their careers. The atmosphere was not ‘wow, she’s famous’ but more ‘wow! I’m working with someone who is brilliant at their job.’ And it is for that reason that creating Masterclass was a master stroke.
For further events, visit www.masterclass.org.uk.