Discover the magic of Shrek on stage these school holidays. Photo: Pied Piper Productions.
Most of us know the story of Shrek: all the fairy-tale characters of Duloc are being banished from the kingdom by the evil Lord Farquaad, so the ogre cuts a deal to rescue Princess Fiona so she can be Farquaad’s bride, to save his home.
Now Canberrans can experience the story in the flesh with Shrek Jr The Musical, presented by Pied Piper Productions.
Director Nina Stevenson hadn’t seen the movie in full before taking on the chance to put it on stage.
“I’d heard of it, and obviously my children and grandchildren had seen it,” she said.
“But I didn’t know all the details and all the characters, so this is my interpretation of the story and the script.”
All of the production’s cast members are under the age of 18, meaning most are more familiar with the film version of Shrek’s story.
The first challenge for Nina was to make sure the cast weren’t just copying the characters they had watched on screen, but for them to develop and internalise each character to turn them into real people.
“Right from the start I said, ‘This is a musical production, it’s not a film, so you have to forget the film, forget everything you know and work hard on internalising the characters’,” she said.
“At the beginning a couple of them wanted to, ‘Oh but, oh but’ – but they were brilliant, they came to rehearsals with it nailed almost.
“They’ve really taken it on board and produced a believable story.”
Some of the actors have performed the show before, such as Harper Ward (16) and Archie Edwards (14), who play Lord Farquaad and Shrek respectively.
They had put on the production at their school but jumped at the chance to perform it again.
Archie played Shrek in the last production and was approached by Nina to audition for her interpretation.
“I felt pretty happy they’d come up to me, and looked out for me, so I was excited to take on the role and get into it,” he said.
It gave him the chance to tackle the role again with different guidance, which he said meant not only did he get to meet new people and make new friends but learnt something new as well.
“Things that I’ll take into other theatre productions and things that I’ll take into life going forward,” Archie said.
“I kind of want to show people there’s lots of sides to Shrek, there’s not just the angry, grumpy side, and that he’s nice and kind and sweet on the inside.”
As for Harper, he originally had played Papa Ogre, Captain of the Guards and the Bishop, so scoring the role of Lord Farquaad literally had him shrink in the world.
The tall teenager spends the production shuffling around on his knees to make sure he fully embodies the character.
“I could not be more happy; it means I get to have funny jokes where, like, I’m standing up on a horse and I jump down from it and I’m actually only three foot eleven or something,” Harper said.
“I used to stuff my kneepads with a lot of socks so I could run around on my knees, but I’m moving up in the world, I’ve got foam in them now.”
Another newcomer to the company is Sophie Hart (16) who secured the role of Princess Fiona.
She said while it had been challenging to not just copy the movie, she adapted pieces of the original character to make it her own.
“She’s just a girl boss; she kind of goes from princess to ogre and back again, and you get to see different sides of her, which is cool,” Sophie said.
When people come to see the production, they’ll be met with lights, amazing handmade costumes and an incredibly talented cast.
Nina said she especially loved seeing how children reacted to seeing a well known story in real life.
“They get drawn into having to use their imagination, absorbing what they see, listening and interpreting what they see,” she said.
“It’s a different way of absorbing a story, they have to be immersed in it rather than having it on a screen in front of them.”
She hoped everyone would walk away having discovered something new, be it about the story or about the possibilities of theatre itself.
“There is another world, and I think it opens up people’s minds for what’s possible for their kids, it always has been and always will be a magical environment, the theatre,” Nina said.
“And if they get nothing else out of it, they would have enjoyed a really, really good production.”
Shrek Jr The Musical is showing at the Canberra College Performing Arts Centre from 15 to 21 April.
Loading ...
