I’d like to say that Engplay was a laboriously thought out endeavour this term; that the directors put a lot of thought into the script-selection; that us producers tirelessly worked to design backdrops and props; that the actors rehearsed to the point where they silently recited lines all day, every day. But I won’t, because, well, we didn’t. Due to an unfortunate alignment of the stars, no one was available to direct the play for the first half of the term. Then, one afternoon in late January, four engineers- and an architect-to-be met up after an EngSoc meeting, and decided we love Engplay way too much to give up on it.
Fast forward around seven weeks, and you get thirteen charming young students unloading props from their cars in Cambridge’s cleanest alleyway, just behind the Architecture building. That’s right, the very first performance of Engplay this term was in Cambridge, a brilliant idea of one of the directors, aimed at bridging the unfortunate gap between the School of Architecture and main campus. For many of us, it was the first time we’d seen the School of Architecture, and we got a great welcome from them as the Director of Architecture even came to see the play. This first performance was followed by two equally exciting performances at UW.
As for the play itself, it was humbly titled “The Odyssey: An Epic Fail.” Due to the time crunch, it was decided that the play shouldn’t follow a script, and was instead workshop-ed by the actors and directors. A quick glance on Wikipedia was all they needed to get the gist of Homer’s “Odyssey”; the rest was all made up as they went along. The amount of valid plot points included and the consistency of the characters created in such a short time was truly impressive. Needless to say, the particular demographic represented by our fine team had no problems filling the already suggestive story to the brim with innuendos.
It’s been a great adventure putting together this play. My wonderful Engplay teammates (actors, directors, co-producer) really impressed me with their creativity, sense of humour, genuineness and ability to balance all the wonderful things they do. We hope you all enjoyed seeing it, or at least feel horrible for missing it, which will, of course, prompt you to go see Engplay next term. Yes? Yes.
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