Shoestring Theatre

Calling all thespians and Shakespeare fans! The Shoestring Theatre will be starting up quite soon! If you don’t know what this is, I can tell you one thing: it is a lot of fun.

Dr. Sandra Bell started this activity in 2002, naming it the Lunch Hour Theatre. The name was changed later on so that the actors would not be locked into one time period. It is now known as Shoestring Theatre, called as such for the shoestring budget we perform on.

We have very few props and costuming consists of black pants and shirt or just regular clothing. Shoestring has performed mock operas, short one-act and student-written plays, as well as some improvisational theatre. For the past few years Shoestring has enacted scenes and monologues from Shakespeare’s plays.

Dr. Bell is the president of the Saint John Shakespeare Society for her fourth year, is on the Second Stage committee in the Saint John Theatre Company, and teaches renaissance drama and Shakespeare courses at UNBSJ. She has run Shoestring since its beginning, the exception being last year when she was busy giving a speech at the Globe Theatre in London. Jay Rawding, a graduated English Honours student at UNBSJ, directed Shoestring last year.

This year Dr. Bell is thinking of putting together a mixture of monologues and short scenes of 2-3 actors from Shakespeare’s plays, unless a student would like to request a short play. The performance usually takes place during the winter term, so the actors will have enough time to get to know their scenes and practice them. There is at least one performance on campus and a performance in the Shakespeare Society’s performance space in Brunswick Square.

This year we are also hoping to perform for a high school or two. A side note to the worrywarts: no plague will stop this theatre! The show must go on!

I have been a part of this theatre company for the past two years, since my first year here at UNBSJ, and I can’t wait to join in the fun again this year. Every actor has roughly the same amount of stage time, so there are no ‘lead actors.’ Everyone gets their chance at stardom.

Since there are only short scenes and monologues it isn’t very hard to memorise lines, and it can be a great help in English classes since we learn the meanings of many frequently used words of the period. Dr. Bell is a fantastic director, who can be both silly and serious, making the rehearsals great fun while the performances are pulled off spectacularly.

If you want to see what the performances are like, the 2008 and 2009 shows can be found on YouTube by searching “Shoestring Theatre.” Anyone interested in joining should look for announcements around the second week of November, and can contact Dr. Bell at sbell@unbsj.ca for more information.