A READERS’ THEATRE APPROACH TO MO
WHAT IS READERS’ THEATRE?
RT aims to help listeners to a text to be imaginatively involved in recreating the story in their own minds. It achieves this through a dramatic reading of the text by a group, with very few if any props and a few suitable rules.
WHY IS IT LIKELY TO BE A USEFUL WAY TO APPROACH MO?
We know that Don Bosco was an accomplished story-teller and that his wonderful narrative text, especially in the first two parts of MO, is Don Bosco’s story-telling at its best.
Don Bosco constructs his scenes, giving us useful soundbytes. Just as the Lives of Savio, Magone, Besucco were constructed as models of youthful holiness built around biographical detail, so too MO is a kind of religious and educational poem built around interconnections of his idealised autobiographical anecdotes.
We know that they are, in a sense ‘memories of the future’ to use a phrase of Braido’s, in other words Don Bosco wanted his episodes to be instructive and applicable to future situations. A Readers’ Theatre approach can attempt such application if it wants.
Don Bosco had already chosen an audience, his ‘beloved Salesian sons’. These are RT’s audience too. Furthermore Don Bosco used a range of devices to keep his audience involved and thinking…’You have asked me…’, Note well…’, You will perhaps say…’. These are excellent techniques also for RT.
Don Bosco’s dialogues are already well constructed and fluent. His scenes are at times almost cinematographic (E.G. Dream) involving foregrounds, backgrounds, and various types as well as real people.
WHAT CHARACTERIZES READERS’ THEATRE?
a script, which each reader has for himself and his duly prepared. A script could also be an item which helps depict a character…as a strange example, perhaps, if we were doing Little Red Riding Hood, LRRH’s script might have a red cover, the wolf’s a brown cover, grandma’s a lace cover etc.
readers sit on stools, boxes, ladders, floor.
readers dress informally or at most with a hint of character or setting.
there is minimum movement and where there is movement it only has the purpose of clarifying an action or reinforcing a relationship.
readers work on (together) what they think the text suggests. Does it suggest a flashback? Is there something implied which should be expressed?
placement and arrangement of readers can suggest meanings.
normally readers do not touch each other…if there is touch it is to highlight something extraordinary. The idea is always to keep the focus on the story and to help the listener to imaginatively recreate.
use of off-stage focus ploys where possible. This might mean that readers never look at each other but at the audience or at a point behind, above.
two readers who are talking to one another actually allow their gaze to meet at some point in the audience.
readers should show that they are enjoying doing what they are doing as much as Don Bosco enjoyed writing about it!
