On December 1st and 2nd, I had the pleasure and honour to act out the main role of Antigone in the play Antigone Now! Being the main character in a production has always been a dream of mine so when the opportunity arose to audition for the part I immediately signed up for senior production.

Although the result was amazing it wasn’t all smooth sailing. With missing out rehearsals because of school trips, to not always having everyone in the cast in the rehearsals we had a lot to overcome. Thankfully everyone worked their hardest to get their lines memorised and staging under the belt. Working together as a team got us through things so much faster than working alone and separating the work load.

This play was a lot darker compared to the light-hearted plays I’m so used to doing but it was a nice challenge. It was also a different direction for me when it came to acting since I mainly played the villain in past performances. I worked closely with Dasha and Ms Jackson to perfect my acting skills for Antigone.

There was also an observant learning process to it all. Even though this learning wasn’t for my role as a performer, as a director I saw how Ms Jackson utilized sound and lighting to bring about the atmosphere and setting of the scene and it is something I will use in my theatre lessons.

The biggest challenge that I had to overcome was learning my lines. I had so many more lines to memorize being the main character so I dedicated my mornings waiting at school for the day to begin reading through my lines and saying them out loud whilst walking around the school pitch. The movement helped give me some outlet for the lines in a physical direction and saying them out loud helped me practice the emotion with which I would say it. Being at school so early helped me avoid any embarrassment I would’ve gotten from other people seeing me practice.

The most rewarding moment from the whole journey was the final bow we took on the last night all together. Doing it felt like such a relief as we had finished our long journey. But it also held some sadness. It was the end of an era all together as next year the DP2s would be leaving and we also had some others departing from our school.

I want to thank everyone who made this happen and gave me the opportunity to continue my talents and learn better acting skills.

(Featured Image Credit: OSC School Photographers)