Drama, Baby, Drama!
How many people can pinpoint exactly the moment when they became obsessed with something? I do! It was the moment when Sister Annamarie stopped at my desk in first class and in her gruff voice said: “Darmanin, you can play the donkey in the nativity play!“. That is the exact moment when I fell in love with the theatre. It was admittedly a very minor role and I only got it because out of all the class I could bray best, but a start is a start. The year after that I played the ox for the same reason (I was really good at imitating animals!) and then there was a hiatus until I was fifteen when I got to play the Prince of Morocco in a school production of The Merchant of Venice. I went on to the Drama Academy and played many different roles from then on.
When I came to Salzburg I was at a loss. Where and how could I channel my theatrical impulses when my German was nonexistent? Luckily for me I discovered the English Drama Group Salzburg (at that time led by the indomitable Professor Ilse Lackenbauer). I immediately joined and became a stalwart member of the group, often onstage and sometimes backstage. When Ilse left after 15 years of leading the group, she handed her “baby“to me as I was deemed to be a worthy successor. I felt honoured and have tried my best over the last 12 years but I could not have foreseen the effects the Corona virus would have on our little group. Midway through our production cycle in 2020 we had to give up our production for that year even though a lot of props and some period costumes had already been made. As theatres closed down, all amateur and most professional companies went on an indefinite break, which for some of us has lasted quite a long time. The continuously changing Corona measures did not make it any easier and the majority of the public was obviously cautious about attending events inside a closed environment.
Slowly this year things are beginning to change. Many amateur companies have crawled out of the woodwork and are again trying to entertain and educate us with their offerings even if seating is being reduced to offer a measure of safety. Encouraged by this, I decided it was time for the English Drama Group Salzburg to do the same and so we embarked on a journey with the aim of putting something on stage for our audiences. It has been a real hurdle race which I am sure other theatrical groups are going through as well. Rehearsals have been underway since February with masks and tests. Unavoidably, some actors did catch the virus but they were all vaccinated and after a brief quarantine they were back. The process has been more exhausting than ever. We dropped the play we had in mind for 2020 and chose something with a smaller cast. Less tests and less chance of getting infected I thought, but with infection rates surging in March we were nevertheless affected. Still, we persevered and I am happy to say that we will go on stage in early May (for more information check the ARGEkultur website).
A lot of people who make a living in the world of the performing arts have been hit hard. Costume makers, set designers, light and sound technicians have been left in the dark about their future. Now that the sector is slowly coming back to life, all of us hope that our audiences have not forgotten their favourite theatre companies and will come to our performances hungry for live entertainment after bingewatching endless series from streaming providers on their television screens.