Community Theatre at St Gabriel’s

Graham Ford recently finished a season of Brigadoon at St Gabriel’s Theatre Group Reservoir (Victoria), which he describes as a unique experience.

St Gabriel’s is real community theatre. Associated with the Catholic Church in Reservoir, it has been going for 44 years and they do only one production a year. Auditions are the last Sunday in August and they rehearse religiously every Sunday evening until the production at the end of November. There was one intensive weekend as well.

With so many companies becoming more and more professional and striving for perfection, this was a refreshing change. Everyone who comes to auditions (or doesn’t) is accepted into the cast; the youngest member was seven weeks and the oldest in her eighties. There were kids everywhere!

The principal of “it’ll be right on the night” has never been more clearly demonstrated. Rehearsals and performances are in the church hall with an electronic organ. There is no conductor. Attendance at rehearsals (or performances) is not compulsory.

And the noise! With 20 or 30 primary school and younger kids at every rehearsal (with their parents) I was constantly amazed at the tolerance of the group and the ability to continue rehearsal when it was very difficult to hear instructions. Some attempt was made to keep the noise down during performances.

Now although this sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, it was far from it. The leads were amazingly good. All were parents of young children and would find it very difficult to meet the rehearsal demands of other companies having to leave their children and partners at home. All had played leading roles with major amateur companies prior to having children.

Due to the lack of rehearsal the choreography was far from slick, but was generally tailored so most could cope with it. Some choristers were more sure of their harmony lines than others, but I suspect the principals had extra private rehearsals, as they were confident.

A pleasurable by-product was the lack of stress. Perfection was not expected and there was no feeling of anyone letting the side down when mistakes were made. I found the direction very innovative and the audiences were certainly entertained. I had a good time and the value of this experience for the kids in the cast was immeasurable.