Most of the students in the summer intensive program decided not to show up, which meant we had more players in the drama than people in the audience. I found that quite amusing, and I think it helped settle some nerves: my students had thought they would be facing a huge audience.
The play went about as well as could be expected. There were notable fuckups during the Titus Andronicus and Hamlet segments (in both cases, the leads forgot their lines and tripped everyone else up), but some of my actresses had the audience in stitches.
A lot of credit has to go to the students for their inventiveness. Most of the ideas that appeared on stage were not suggested by me. I'll take credit for insisting from the beginning that the students be creative (and I think Shakespeare-- who after all wrote few stage directions into his plays-- would have agreed that creativity is key), but the students themselves took it from there.
The audience clapped obligingly during the scene changes, and gave us a decent round of applause at the end. All fifteen people (heh) seemed delighted by the performance. We did a wave-style bow; the girls received roses, and I got a bouquet-- my first ever for a performance of any sort.*
The students also received a W70,000 (US$70) prize, which we promptly spent at a pizza joint this afternoon: two pizzas, two salad bar bowls, and several pitchers of Coke.** Seventy bucks for that. Scary.
The semester's over... but my fat ass still has proofreading to do. Then, during next week's "vacation," we've got a semester's worth of lesson planning to do and a testing workshop to attend. Woo-hoo!
On the bright side, I have time to restart my Namsan project, and perhaps I'll sign up for the Smoo gym now that it'll be open late.
*My brother Sean, a professional cellist, is well acquainted with receiving roses and applause.
**Ever tried to snort a pitcher of Coke? I don't recommend it.
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Sheepies farm the home.
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