Year 9 student Shane Stevens has a passion for stage performance. The gifted young stage actor has been a part of many performances and productions here at the College, but is about to embark on his first play with a company outside of school. What makes Shane’s involvement in his current production even more remarkable is the fact the he competed with a range of experienced, talented adults for the role he landed.
“My current play is called ‘Pirates of Penzance’. It is about a band of pirates who are known throughout Penzance as ruthless and violent. The reality, however, is just the opposite. They are really very wimpy. The play has many stories running simultaneously, with three different groups of people all involved in sub-plots. There are the pirates who get up to all sorts of antics, the police who are doing their best to catch the pirates, and the girls trying to marry the pirates without their father’s permission. Within all of this there are many light-hearted moments that tend to keep the story interesting. For example, the pirates have never seen girls before and the girls’ father is a major general. ‘Pirates of Penzance’ is a musical written by Gilbert and Sullivan. It is quite humorous and exciting to watch. All the pirates are orphans and don’t harm other orphans, so everyone knows that if they get caught they just need to say they are an orphan too.
“This is my first play with a company outside of school and the first time I have worked with Northern Light Theatre Company. However, I have had lead roles in plays at St Columba numerous times.”
We asked Shane how he got involved in this type of production and what commitments he now as with rehearsals. “I auditioned before the play and they had to check my singing voice and stage choreography. Quite unexpectedly I was picked to be one of the pirates because of my skills and motivation. Now I rehearse after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:30 pm until 10:30 pm, and on Sundays for anywhere from two to six hours. Leading up to performance night we will rehearse just about every night.”
Performances of ‘Pirates of Penzance’ run on Thursday and Friday nights throughout April at the Shedley Theatre, Elizabeth. For further information or tickets contact Northern Light Theatre Company at www.northernlight.org.au. We wish Shane all the very best of luck and congratulate him on gaining such a significant role in this production.
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