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DRAMA
Level: C1
Age: 18 (3rd year)
Performed: March 24, 2003
Time: 1 hour
Play: ‘The Ugly Duckling’ by A.A. Milne
The outline of the plot: There are the King and Queen who have the only daughter, Princess Camilla. The young girl is rather plain and, as arrangements have been made for Prince Simon to marry Princess Camilla, her parents are feeling anxious. That is the reason why it is decided that Dulcibella, the beautiful maid, will impersonate Camilla until the wedding. But Prince Simon has heard that Camilla is so gorgeous that he considers himself rather plain beside her, so he has his man, Carlo, impersonate him; Carlo is very handsome. Simon and Camilla meet by chance and fall in love. Each looks quite beautiful to the other, and they live quite happily ever after.
The characters in this humourous play are a bit strange, that is the King is undignified and rather foolish, the Queen is not serene but bossy and quick-tempered, the Princess is considered not very beautiful, and the Prince is not fearless and strong.
Preparation: It was me, the teacher, who picked out the play to perform. Reading the comedy, I found it both extremely amusing and suitable for the students’ personalities. The class is bright, creative, and can boast of a good sense of humour. Moreover, I did not have to encourage or force the class (an extended English profile) to put the play on as they had been intending to do that for a few months. There came an occasion to prepare it for our school’s festival. The aim was clear for everyone. We had only 2 weeks to accomplish the task and, since the performance was going to be seen by the whole school community, we all felt we had to do our best.
Firstly, I distributed a few copies of the text to students so that they could get familiar with the text at home. Those who were eager to show off with their talent for acting willingly picked up the roles for themselves. Luckily, their choice of characters appeared to be absolutely right. Secondly, there came the time for role-play reading. I met the eight ‘actors’ two or three times and it was then when the first loose ideas concerning the spectacle started to spring up. Thirdly, to my surprise, the other students got engaged with the enterprise ...
