The British Theatre Guide: Creating Your Own Show

School & Youth Theatre

Creating Your Own Show - Compilations

There comes a time when you run out of ideas, when you've done all the shows that really appeal to you (or, at least, those you can do because of personnel or budget constraints), and you sit for hours wondering what you can do this year! One answer is a compilation show.

By this I mean a show which you create by linking together bits and pieces.

What sort of bits and pieces? Well, music obviously. It's an opportunity to do some of those songs which you love but which aren't part of a musical. And you can use poetry. And plays... But there are problems there...

Hang on! We're getting a bit ahead of ourselves here! Let's slow down and start again.

A compilation show is a series of extracts, poems and pieces of music linked together by a theme. It has many advantages, not least the fact that you can create it to suit the strengths of your company. If you've got good singers, you can use a lot of music. If you've got large numbers wanting to take part, you can spread lots of small parts around.

So, what sort of theme are we talking about?

It really can be anything. An obvious - and productive one - is Love. I've done one on these lines a number of times. Luv!, in fact, has gone through three incarnations. It began life in the early seventies as a piece for the South Tynside Youth Theatre, then was reborn in the late eighties with the South Tyneside Secondary Schools Drama Group, and its third appearance was just a couple of years ago with King George V School in South Shields. This third incarnation, in fact, was done a year later by another school, Thornhill School in Sunderland.

In it we looked at all aspects of love (sounds like a good title for a show, that!), through music, dance, drama and poetry. The pieces were very varied: the songs ranged from Music Hall (Gus Elen's It's a Great Big Shame - with audience sing-along) to Andrew Lloyd-Webber (inevitably!) and the drama included Shakespeare (the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet) and Chaucer (my own version of the prologue to the Wife of Bath's Tale). Poetry included two pieces by A. E. Houseman (When I Was One and Twenty and Oh, See how Thick...). We also had two dancers dancing the story of the temptation of Eve from the Book of Genesis.

One word of warning before we go any further: remember that if you do an extract from any play that is still in copyright (which in the UK lasts for 70 years after the death of the author), you must get permission from the author's agent, and you may have a pay a fee. Some agents will give permission readily without fee, some with a reduced fee, but some will want to charge the full fee even if you are only doing a small part of the play. Some will even refuse permission. You've got to abide by their decision, otherwise you are breaking the law and laying yourself - and the school - open to prosecution.

It is safest to do work that is out of copyright - or your own work.

Here's how I set about creating a compilation piece:-

First I select the theme: love, war, family... the possibilities are only limited by your imagination. I did one show which I called Easter Song which compared the promise of the Easter message with what man has actually made of it. "Have I not reason to lament what man has made of man?" as Wordsworth said. What Man has Made of Man would be a good title - and it's out of copyright!

Next I list every poem, song and dramatic piece which fits the theme - or, at least, those that appeal to me and which I know my cast can handle. Then I divide the topic up into sub-themes and fit my list of "bits" into these categories.

Now I have the basis of the piece. It remains only to choose which I use. I try to create as much variety as possible: if one sub-theme is represented by a piece of drama, the next will use a song or a piece of poetry. You will find that the biggest problem is rejecting pieces that you really, really want to do but can be better represented by something else.

Once this outline is set, I start to work on the staging of the piece. This depends upon numbers. I like to have all the cast on-stage all the time, with individual performers emerging from the mass and returning to it when their part finishes. If you have a large group, this is not possible, so you have to find some way around it.

In Luv!'s third incarnation I had a cast of around 40, so I set small tables all around the sides of the stage (I was using a thrust stage configuration). Each table was surrounded by five or six chairs and was decorated with a candle in a bottle. Instant cabaret club! Access to the stage was easy, so the emerging and remerging caused no problems.

With a smaller cast - Luv!'s first and second showings, for instance - I had a multi-level stage and the cast moved around, sitting mainly on the higher levels. Again, it's a matter of using your imagination.

(As an aside, I once did a production of Godspell with a huge chorus. I set the play in an inner-city playground and sat the chorus on scaffolding which ran along the back of the stage. As I say: use your imagination!)

It's really not difficult. The worst part is getting permission for the dramatic extracts - if you decide to use modern pieces. Rehearsal is easier, too, because you can call small numbers for each rehearsal and no one is sitting around doing nothing (except that my kids like to sit in on all rehearsals anyway!). The only problem is pulling the whole lot together at the end. You'll find your last week's rehearsals are given over to creating smooth transitions between pieces, with props and furniture needing to be moved around as quickly, quietly and efficiently as possible.

If you're stuck for what to do next, have a go at a compilation show. I can assure you, it's my experience that audiences love them, and the cast does too, for everyone who is willing and able gets a chance to shine!