What does a drama group do during lockdown? FromeDrama have the answer – they carry on performing online.
The group explain, “Unable to continue rehearsals and performances as planned for 2020, a project called ‘6 Poems in Search of a Performance’ was born instead.
“The project is the brainchild of chair, Sue Ross. Six pieces of popular poetry were chosen, and an SOS sent out to members for performers to take part. Bowled over by the 23 volunteers who answered the call, the poems were duly carved up and verses, couplets, lines and sections were divided out amongst them. The only instruction issued was to video record their interpretation of the allocated snippets of the poem and send it in.”
Sue said, “It could have been chaos. We had no idea if it would work or make sense but the finished recordings, stitched together to recreate the six poems, have become a very special record of lockdown. Featuring lockdown hair, ingenious props, assorted locations and faces old and new, there are some truly wonderful performances, from Under Milk Wood to The Lion and Albert, from Please Mrs Butler to The Highwayman and The Listeners to If. While each poem had multiple contributors, we avoided the ‘Zoom look’ and they appear individually.
“It’s been a brilliant way of connecting and ‘seeing’ each other during this particularly challenging time.”
If you would like to see the end results for yourself, go to www.fromedramaclub and follow the links.
