Tobias Jussel (Vienna | Wien)
In August 2020 I was informed about becoming the organizer of this year’s school theater. Joyfully I was looking forward to what would develop to a different kind of challenge than I had expected back then. Without much experience in the field of leading an acting class I was, nonetheless, eager to go to work and help the project thrive. Yet, when the second Corona wave was hitting Austria hard again it became clear to everybody within the group that drastic changes would be brought about by the government and we would either adapt or cancel the lessons.
The widespread use of the face masks as a protective measure marked the first obvious transition. Fortunately, we could not use them while performing on stage, which meant that besides communi-cation offstage there were no major limitations. Nevertheless, this kind of exemption led to a much more complicated question: Do we contribute to the spread of the virus through our work? If the answer is yes, why taking the risk?
For months the Austrian administration stressed it would prevent schools from closing at any cost. However, the virus had other plans. I am not a doctor nor a virologist, so I am clearly not in the po-sition to judge the measures taken by specialists during a pandemic. What I do know is that an elec-tive like acting offers students the opportunity to discover and develop talent that otherwise would be neglected by the Austrian educational system. For a lot of children electives mark the only occa-sion where they eventually experience approval and personal success. Therefore, I was not that sur-prised when I heard about a young boy that cried the moment he received the message that there was no class today.
Speaking of youngsters, it would be foolish to overlook any chance given to us by the pandemic. By the start of October, it became obvious that students from the upper secondary school would not be allowed to attend the classes anymore. What seemed to be another major blow to the project turned out to be a magic potion to the younger students. While I was quite pessimistic when I was in-formed that the most experienced and well-advanced students would stay away, the remaining members of the group immediately saw their chance and did not fail to impress me with their crea-tive vigour and burning enthusiasm.
The first time browsing Jura Soyfer’s Weltuntergang marked another turning point. After we had spent the first weeks with breaking the ice the group’s dynamic changed dramatically for the better when we laid hands on the text. Discipline and determination improved immediately. Surprisingly, words deeply rooted in Austria’s chaotic 30ies turned out to be much more relevant to the students than I would have ever expected. The silliness and naivety embodied by the play’s tragicomic char-acters seemed obvious to the students.
However, working through the text and understanding most of its contemporary innuendos must be a challenge at least to some degree. Shaping and assigning the different parts will be crucial to the project. Given the fact that there are no leading or minor roles in the play plus, there are so many different traits, shades and colours represented by the play’s characters, I am convinced that Der Weltuntergang will work especially in the context of a heterogeneous group.
I am not able to determine nor shape the greater framework conditions for school theatre during this pandemic crisis. In fact, we have lost weeks and we cannot be too certain about what is to come. The only thing I am sure about is that we will continue our work as soon as we get the chance to get back on stage. Although a suitable form has yet to be found, the main goal for this project remains the same: the staging of Jura Soyfer’s Weltuntergang. In order to reduce the uncertainty and the overall workload we intend to use a basic stage design, so we can concentrate on the playing side. In case of need, it might also reasonable to perform only parts of the play, which is already struc-tured in quite unattached scenes. To sum it up in one sentence, there are numerous ways to perform and present Der Weltuntergang to an audience mostly composed of members and friends. Conse-quently, we are open to any idea that will help us bringing this project back to life.