Rehearsals for the DAN School of Drama and Music 2024 Fall Major, The Other Shore, are well underway.
The Other Shore, a play by Gao Xingjian, is this year’s pick for the 2024 DAN School Major, an annual production typically directed by faculty, with a cast and crew of students. This year’s show, directed by Professor Craig Walker, will run at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts in the studio theatre from Nov. 13 to 24.
This marks Walker’s 12th installment as director for a DAN Major with a cast of 18 students. The abstract, dreamlike play discusses themes of individualism and collectivism and provides an opportunity for growth and contemplation for the director, cast, and audience alike.
The Other Shore, written by multidisciplinary, Nobel Prize winning playwright Gao Xingjian is an unconventional choice due to its abstract themes, and controversial history. The play was banned in China five weeks into the production’s rehearsal by authorities, as its themes clashed with political ideology and were seen as subversive to authorities.
Without a straightforward narrative, the play’s content is difficult to describe and is worth watching in person to truly understand. “It’s actually very difficult to describe, I find,” Walker said in an interview with The Journal.
“It doesn’t have a straightforward narrative, it’s not set in China. It doesn’t have any specific setting, the characters don’t have names, there’s no specific historical events that are referred to. So, it’s all linked more by association than a traditional story. When you get to the end, you realize you’ve been through a story, but it doesn’t feel like that when you’re in the middle. It feels more like a dream,” Walker said.
The abstract nature of the play allows audiences to bring their own experiences and references to the subject matter, discussing themes of individuality and collectivism, and the pull between the desire for independence, and the need to be included.
The major provides a chance for students to gain production expertise and step out of their comfort zone.
“This provides a vital experience, under the supervision of people who are professionally experienced […] There’s the opportunity to identify problems and provide proven solutions to those things. The student-produced, student-directed things are very important too, but the major productions are meant to sort of set a standard for how a production should work,” Walker said.
This opportunity provides essential skills for students to apply in their time post-university. “I would say that the most vital educational experience that we provide in drama is project management,” he added.
The Other Shore in particular, also allows Walker—as the director—the chance to learn too. “[The play] is so personal and dreamlike that sometimes it takes a little while to figure out what something is doing there, what it’s about. But that becomes interesting in the long run. It’s a welcome challenge—it forces me to be more inventive as director, and that inevitably leads to forcing students to be in a place that is maybe a little bit outside of their comfort zone because it’s not familiar,” Walker said.
Taking a short break for reading week, the play will resume rehearsal after the holiday, increasing their rehearsals from four nights a week to five. Next steps include refining movement and continuing to get the 18-strong cast together to rehearse, a feat that isn’t always easy with conflicting schedules.
Directing the production is a process Walker finds rewarding. “In virtually every major that I’ve directed, I think the most satisfying thing is bringing students into that intimate contact with a brilliant creative mind that is usually pretty unconventional, and Gao certainly fulfills that idea,” Walker said.
“I can see [the students] grow in confidence, and self-assurance, and also they’ve become an ensemble. They really like one another, and support one another, and I’m really glad to have provided that,” Walker added.
Walker hopes the audience comes to the production with an open mind, and that it sparks discussion amongst its viewers.
“The best response I could get is to have people talking about [the play] as they leave.”
Tags
Dan School of Drama and Music, Drama, Fall Major, The Other Shore, Theatre
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.