Martin Co. West tackles drama
Jennifer Brookens — Staff WriterArticle Photos
SHERBURN - For the theatre department at Martin County West, school plays are usually musicals or comedies. But this time the group is performing a drama/mystery that was an award-winning novel and film in Australia.
Teacher Daryl Lanz, who directs Martin County West plays, has had his eye on the theatre adaptation of "Picnic at Hanging Rock" for some time.
"It is different for us because it's a drama that is non-musical," he said. "The story is based in Australia in 1900, about a girls' boarding school where some of the girls go on a picnic at Hanging Rock. They go rock climbing and they disappear, and no one knows if they were still alive or what happened to them."
One of the interesting things about the "Picnic at Hanging Rock" story is the unsolved mystery written as if it was based on a true story. The novel was written by Australian author Joan Lindsay and released in 1967, and adapted into a film in 1975.
"It's a very interesting production," Lanz said. "It offers some hints as to what may have happened, but there are not a lot of answers. The kids have gotten into it; a lot of them are coming up with their own theories."
This was the appeal of the novel and movie when they were released. Speculation of the unsolved mystery has numerous theories as to what happened to the girls from an accident, to foul play, to the supernatural. In the original story, only one of the girls who vanishes is found, but she has no memory of what happened on the rock, or the fate of her companions.
A final chapter that told what happened was removed from the book before it was published, but was released in 1987 as "The Secret of Hanging Rock," two years after Lindsay's death.
Lanz said not only was he intrigued by the opportunity for the students to perform a straight drama, but it calls for a large number of female actors.
"I've been thinking about it for several years," Lanz admits. "There are 25 roles total, and we have 18 female students to eight males."
Some of the starring roles include the strict headmistress Mrs. Appleyard, played by Courtney Langren; French teacher Mademoiselle de Portiers, played by Elaine Helmsetter; while Matt Stoffel and Shawn Crane play Michael and Albert, two men who have questionable motives.
"Picnic at Hanging Rock" will be performed at the Martin County West High School Auditorium on Nov. 21-23. Show times will be 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
Ticket prices are $5 for adults and $3 for students.
