Drama Festival, 18-21 Feb 2016, Jerudong International School, Brunei
The5thAnnualFOBISIA Drama Festival:Company of Strangerswas hosted in the spectacular Arts Centre atJerudong International School, Bruneifrom the 18th-21st February 2016. One-hundred-fifty-nine students took part from 4 countries representing 10 schools from across Asia.
This year is the 400thanniversary of William Shakespeare’s death and so the Drama community of FOBISIA schools wanted to mark this occasion with a festival that celebrated the wonderful work of the bard! To this end, as the students arrived in Brunei they were immediately ‘sorted’ into Shakespearian style Companies. Each Company was given 50 words from one Shakespearean text and over three days produced a completely original and abstract performance of their given play.
Each company was given a ‘tool kit’ to work with, comprising a curtain on a wire, 4 swords, a range of costumes, 2 boxes, a doorway, 3 planks of wood and a Bodhrán (a traditional Irish drum). In addition to this range of items every student took part in 7 workshops that covered a range of skills that Shakespearian actors would have had and some modern theatrical skills that they could apply to their own devised work. Through the workshops the students learnt to fight with swords, experimented with physical theatre and dance, explored text through the use of Whooshes, Dramatic Exploration and the work of Brecht as well as the skills needed to compose and perform their own original folk music.
In addition to dramatic exploration all of the students completed two cultural visits whilst in Brunei. First was a Jungle Walk which saw each Company working together to cross rivers, climb hills and experience the rainforest first hand! Brunei’s jungles are in incredible condition and a real asset of the country. The Jungle Walk challenged the students in an alien environment to develop as a team and work together towards a common goal. The second cultural visit was to Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei’s capital city, where the students went on a boat ride visiting Kampong Ayer (the water village), the Grand Mosque, The Sultan’s Palace and the Proboscis Monkey’s in their natural mangrove environment.
On the second day of the festival we were honoured to be visited by David Campbell, the British High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam. He toured the festival and complimented the staff, students and JIS on the quality of the workshops on offer. He also spoke of the importance of Shakespeare and the importance of the Performing Arts in International Schools.
The Festival culminated in 8 performances of 8 different Shakespearean Texts. Each of these spectacular performances was filmed and is available on the JIS BruneiYouTube page.
By: Will Kemp, Director of Drama, Jerudong International School