Recent bouts of torrential rain may have dampened the spirits of the now less than Insta-worthy tourists of Front Square, but a mere Luas journey away the story is very different. Inside the unrecognisable sports hall of Trinity Hall, it’s almost time for a Spring Awakening.
This year’s Halls’ Musical directors, second-year English and psychology student Sarah Moran and third-year theoretical physics student Dillon Cotter, recently braved the elements to talk to me about their upcoming production.
“It has surpassed all the expectations we had starting”, enthuses Cotter. Having directed last year’s Cumman Gaelach musical and no stranger performing live gigs in bands, Cotter feels grateful to have been given this opportunity and finds himself consistently “learning as [he] goes along”. Moran, who has “always acted up to this point” with both Trinity Musical Theatre and DU Players, feels a similar gratitude for being able to put “everything [she’s] learned from acting onto a stage and other people”.
The musical selected for this year’s production, Spring Awakening by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik, was first staged in 1906 and was still exciting Broadway audiences 100 years later in 2006. “The premise of the play”, according to Moran, “is teens discovering sex and their sexuality for the first time” and “the reprecussions which arise from adults not being completely candid with young teens”.
Boasting a range of heavy themes, youth theatres and school groups alike generally shy away from this musical, Cotter informs me, making it a perfect fit for a first year’s first entirely student-led production. “It’s great to be able to come to college and know that this is not your transition year musical, this is not your mother’s musical”, Moran adds. “Welcome to college…” she smirks. “You get to talk about sex.”
Alongside the enticingly explicit nature of the piece, these spear-heading creatives have also read a strikingly modern relevance from between the lines of the script. “A lot of our cast are Northern Irish so midway through [the rehearsal period of] the show we’re putting on about sexuality and discovering sex, they witnessed marriage equality and abortion become legalised at home”, says Moran. “So even though this is a very old play, based on something from the early 1900s, it’s a very modern and relevant topic we’re talking about.”
In terms of inclusion and progress, this year’s creative team are proud to break new ground. “The Halls musical has never had a production team before”, says Moran, who starred in the 2018 production of RENT staged in Halls. “Last year I heard so many people say that they never got the chance to audition or that they don’t sing, dance or act but they like theatre and wanted to get involved.”
Having delighted in the experience herself, she “thought that was such a huge shame … because [the musical] is for the entire halls community”. This year, Moran and Cotter are thrilled to have Halls residents operating the sound and light equipment for the show’s duration, a set-design team who have collaboratively built the aesthetics, a costume team and their very own first-year production manager, Conor Carp. In addition, this directorial duo have introduced a range of non-singing roles into the production, through which they claim to have discovered some amazing actors.
The production’s musical director, Jenny Dolan, who formed the show’s 11-piece live band, has also been “absolutely fantastic”, the pair agree. In a break from convention, she established the band early in the academic term to facilitate a longer and more integrated rehearsal period, while also expanding its traditional capacity. Similarly, the team feel incredibly indebted to non-resident Amy Cassidy, a member of DU Dance and Trinity Musical Theatre, who came on board as choreographer for the project. “She’s the busiest woman in the world, along with studying occupational therapy”, says Moran. “She will come in and just smack out this giant number in two hours.”
This coming Wednesday to Friday, Moran says you can expect some “serious and important themes”, “to get attached to characters” and “be blown away by the sheer work ethic of this huge group of students who have come together from all over the country – and countries – to put on this massive student led production”.
“The main thing”, Moran says, “is that this cast feel more comfortable in Halls, have all made friends they wouldn’t have made and all feel like they’ve gained something from the experience which we can see is already happening”. Cotter agrees, and he concludes that “they’re a fantastic group – it never feels like work”.
Spring Awakening will run at 7.30pm on November 20th and 21st with a 12.30pm matinee on the 21st in Trinity Halls. Tickets are €5 for students and €10 for friends/family and can be purchased via Eventbrite or on the door.
