Drama weekend: Mort

Woodstock's production this year was Mort, written by Terry Pratchett and adapted for the stage by Stephen Briggs. I played the character of 'Death'.

The play was centered on the 'professional' advancements in the life of a young, awkward boy named Mort. After being offered his first-ever apprenticeship, and that too by Death, he proceeds to risk the fabric of the reality of the universe on a "personal whim" which in turn sets off a series of events completely serious in nature, but at least half funny.

This was the second drama weekend play I had been involved in, my first being last year's play, The Real Inspector Hound. This year's play was directed by Mr. Chris Cooke and Mr. Mark Vignali.

This production taught me that a script is a lot more than just a piece of literature to be analyzed as such by the audience; it needs much more in order to make it worth watching. Towards the end of practices, with the drama date looming, life was a hectic tumult of memorizing lines, blocking, and trying to remember all of the scenes. Nonetheless, on the night of the play there was only applause: Mort was a huge success, and it was a great experience to have been a part of it.

Siddhant Lall (Class of 2010)