Grade 10 Play: 'O Captain, My Captain'

“.. but poetry, love, romance; these are what we live for.”

1 MONTH…

Our class with only a month left to work on this play, Julius Caesar as an option seemed to lose its brilliance for all of us. Spending classes scouring the internet we settled on the classic, ‘Dead Poet’s Society”.

3 WEEKS…

After a rather prolonged movie screening we immediately distributed ourselves into different groups. Our editing crew got to adapting the movie’s script to our play, deciding what to hold on to and what to let go.

The other teams were Music, Acting, Technical teams (Lights and Sounds), Backstage and Set and Props. We also had a team diligently working on spreading ‘Julius Caesar’ propaganda. (We tried, we really did), trying to convince everyone that that was our play.

This play was an exhilarating and thrilling experience for us. Being different from the other times we delved into theatre, this was the first proper play we were doing as a batch and also the last one making all the more precious.

2 WEEKS…

After the editing deciding the cast and getting familiar with the script we were 2 weeks down to ‘D-DAY’. The acting crew started rehearsing trying to get acquainted with the smallest nuances of their characters to optimise the audience’s connection to the play. The music team wrote the songs with lyrics perfectly enrapturing the emotions of the play, such as the catchy ‘CARPE DIEM’ and the melancholic solos.

1 WEEK…

Abhishek sir was as constant as the ‘Northern star’ throughout. He provided us with support and made the whole process smooth. He helped us remain optimistic throughout.

Working with this movie and adapting it for ourselves was a very challenging experience. This included various set difficulties. We had all resonated with the play and had tried our best to communicate what this movie meant to us.

D-DAY…

With the trailer out and all of our parents here on campus, the D-DAY was finally here. The whole day was spent in prepping the Sr.Audi and costume and makeup. (The epitome of chaos).

With trembling hands and nervousness wracking our body, we got ourselves backstage, watching as the audience poured in. The lights dimmed; the audience settled, and it was LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!