Drama enrichment

In 2005 NoFCAD introduced the idea of conducting creative drama sessions to complement the String Beans’ developing musicianship.

In a series of drama workshops held through the year, String Beans participants build confidence, teamwork, and an appreciation of theatre arts. In the drama workshops, The String Beans develop a series of short scenes or tableaux, based on a particular theme from the music they have been playing. The drama content is created by the children themselves.

NoFCAD is indebted to drama facilitator Christine Lovering for the successful piloting of this concept and to conductor Andrew Patrick for his continued support of it.

Working with a theme

The theme is taken from the original musical composition NoFCAD commissions for the String Beans each year. This unites the music and drama into a linked performing arts 'happening'.

During the workshops, participants:

• intensively rehearse the new composition with Andrew the conductor AND the composer;
• use theatre improvisation techniques to develop miniature scenes based on a theme suggested by the music, with the help of a qualified drama teacher;
• engage in craft sessions with a local artist to develop visual design for the performance, including costumes, scenery and props.

The drama scenes are performed at the Fly By Night Club in Fremantle, alongside the unveiling of the original composition that provided the theme.

Previous themes

2005: ‘Strings Scandal and Feathers’ (Pilot). The theme emerging from David Pye’s original orchestral piece, ‘Kecak’, was gossip. The music of ‘Kecak’, heavily influenced by Indonesian gamelan-style percussion and pitch, depicted rain in a Balinese jungle.

The idea of monkey chatter was extrapolated in the workshops into a flock of gossiping galahs, which further developed into an exploration of the nature of gossip.

Under the guidance of Christine Lovering, 'Strings Scandal and Feathers' used 'Kecak' as a launching pad for a series of scenes commenting on the human phenonmenon of gossip... and its consequences. 

2006 Music through the ages. NoFCAD did not commission an original piece in 2006... but basing scenes on a series of musical pieces, drama performers instead took a whimsical journey through the history of music, featuring cave-men communicating through rhythm, the life of Mozart, and the globalisation of the music medium.

2007 ‘Pig-tales’. Conductor exraordinaire Andrew Patrick showed his mettle as a composer when he accepted NoFCAD’s commission for an original piece last year. His piece, ‘No way!...OK...Maybe’, was an orchestral study of the art of persuasion, as different instruments in the ensemble had a musical ‘argument’ about what was to be played. This theme of persuasion was developed in the drama sessions into ‘Pig-tales’, an unfolding of three scenarios exploring what might have happened if the wolf had persuaded the three little pigs to let him in.

View a pictorial summary of the performance.

2008 -- A Peaceful Village No More. Composer Alex Morris provided a programmatic orchestral work that told the story of a giant attacking a peaceful village. The drama performance explored the world of giants.