Bring The Great Gatsby to life

Hundreds of students from forms three - six from secondary schools, including Vessigny Secondary School and Arima Government Secondary School, gathered at the Cheryl Greaves Auditorium on that night as they accepted the invitation to one of the greatest experiences of their lifetime.

They were not only able to have a visual representation of the text The Great Gatsby that they have been studying for the past few months (it’s a text under study in the Literatures in English Syllabus); but they get the opportunity to dress up like ‘dolls’ and ‘old sports’ of the era as they experienced a two hour long theatre in the round, cocktail party theatrical presentation directed and produced by the founder of Milwaz Productions Mr Janieka Tudor, a teacher at Bishop Anstey & Trinity College East sixth form, of Literatures in English and Communication Studies.

They got a chance to ‘live in the moment’.

Milwaz Productions specialises in educational theatre; focusing on deepening and challenging students’ powers of analysis; when given the opportunity to watch words escape pages and see actors bring words to life, therefore adding dimensions to craft almost 100 years old, yet still studied; and thus fulfilling anticipation of a literary thirsty audience.

Something powerful happens when students not only get the opportunity to view a live play but to experience all that the era offers; the music, the fashion, the language, the furniture and even the dances. Literatures in English then no longer remains attached to stigmas of tedious readings, it escapes those walls and forces it’s way into the students’ lives permitting them the opportunity to relive the past.