One of my favourite theatre directors, Murray Napier, once gave me notes to challenge myself with in my performance…. on closing night! I was playing the title role of Elizabeth Bennett in “Pride and Prejudice” and had been performing the role for two weeks after three months of rehearsals. I was shocked. There was only one show left. Surely, I had the story under my belt. Surely there was nothing new to discover in my performance. Surely, I could just sit back, relax, and enjoy the last show. How wrong I was. Murray reminded me that there are always things to work on, that a show is constantly a work in progress and is a process, never a final product.
He taught me a lot about being in the moment, listening and the process of theatre. Since then, I have learned that every time I step onto the stage, it is a chance to discover new things in the story and that a performance is a true work in progress that is never done, not even on a closing night.
This idea of theatre as a creative and evolving journey, and that there is always more to find, is one of the strengths that Quest Theatre brings to young people in schools. Whereas some theatre companies try to create a perfect production topped with a pretty bow at the end of the week, Quest knows where the true treasure lies; within the work we do in the classroom, behind the scenes and before the performance.
Asking the students to use their imagination, be brave, make choices, try out new things, create a script, work as a group, challenge themselves and be present; these are the moments where the work and magic of theatre takes place. For Quest, the final show is just the cherry on top for what is a fulfilling week of growth, inspiration, bravery, creativity, energy, and trust.
A true mark of bravery from our teachers and students comes from trusting the process of creation that happens in the classroom, no matter what it looks like at any given stage. To make something from nothing is a messy, sometimes unorganized process that ebbs and flows between facilitator and students. Sometimes there is a clear direction and other times we are grasping for ideas out of thin air. Sometimes a class comes together quickly and sometimes it takes longer to find a groove. But once the magic of creation starts, it spreads like wildfire.
We encourage students to be active participants in the process of creation and have them guide the direction the story and development takes. We try to put the emphasis on the class time and the excitement of storytelling in general, rather than focus on the performance at the end of the week. Just as my theatre director taught me, a production is never truly finished, so Quest’s final performances are more a showcase of where we ended up in the process.
It took me a long time in my career to change my focus from aiming for a perfect, finalized, finished performance, to one that organically changes and grows every night. To accept that yes, even on closing night there are ways to strengthen, improve, and grow the story we are telling. Just as we hope the students we work with realize that it doesn’t matter what the show looks like on the final day; that it’s ok if it is not polished or it isn’t as developed as we thought. The fact that they showed up each day, willing to try out new things, be brave, create, make mistakes, and try again, work as a group and truly develop something from the ground up, are the deeper lessons we hope they walk away with. And of course, the sense of pride of having participated in the process.
Shiny, pretty performances are nice, but they are not necessarily where the treasure truly lies.
