We are proud to host the first virtual production by The Dulwich Players. Watch the full play, Open Your Ears, online now.

Devised by Ignatz Ratskywatsky and Ruth Landowne Giordano, their first online offering is a 30-minute piece inspired by Shakespeare’s affection for actors and the theatre with illustrative sections from, among others, Hamlet, Henry V, As You Like It and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Read on to find out more about their process to create this funny and entertaining piece.

Zoom & Skype Call’s Well That Ends Well: The Dulwich Players in Lockdown

by Philippa Watts and Jan Rae

It is well known that people turn to the arts in times of hardship: we create to explore our feelings and express ourselves, we watch and visit for escapism, we come together for fun and support. We also know that nothing short of the apocalypse can suppress the arts. Plague, fire, famine, cultural or religious oppression, people always find a way.

The Dulwich Players are no different. Like many theatre groups, amateur or professional, our productions are on hold but that has in no way prevented us from continuing our shared love of theatre, or just spending time with each other. Thanks to the plethora of digital platforms available, we are still rehearsing, socialising and generally having a good time. We also still have a very positive eye on the horizon and are continuing to plan for the future.

While our next production, The Canterbury Tales to be performed in the Bell House gardens, is currently postponed, we are nevertheless carrying on with a range of activities; Our Skills Day, for example, intended to introduce acting members to the delights of backstage and offstage roles, jumped onto WhatsApp with a series of video clips by members of the group, and our annual presence at the Dulwich Festival Fair, running a bookstall (plus whack-a-rat of course) is being marked by members providing, again on WhatsApp, reviews of books they have read in lockdown.

We are arguably spending more time together than we would usually, with weekly scavenger hunts and fortnightly quizzes. The scavenger hunts involve a mad dash around the house or flat to find an incongruous list of items, while the quizzes cover topics far and wide, though of course often with a strong theatrical flavour.

Inspired by and taking our cue from the actors and director of the The Show Must Go Online (https://robmyles.co.uk/theshowmustgoonline ) , we have been putting together a series of rehearsed readings. Our first offering, Open Your Ears, devised by Ignatz Ratskywatsky and Ruth Landowne Giordano, is a 30 minutes piece inspired by Shakespeare’s affection for actors and the theatre with illustrative sections from, among others, Hamlet, Henry V, As You Like It and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

While lockdown is far from ideal for performers, we are lucky that, unlike our professional colleagues, we are not dependent on our productions for our individual incomes. But we carry on in the ways that we can, learning an awful lot about technology on the way, and do our best to make sure that the Dulwich Players remain a thriving and supportive community. Whatever happens in the coming weeks and months, as soon as we are able to reunite safely in person, we will be back with an exciting programme of events and performances.

Open Your Ears is performed by:

Daniel Aarons, Rathna Ali, Marcia Bennie, Hayley Blundell, Timothy Bond, Kate Boydell, Carole Coyne, Rebecca Dallaway and Melisa Ramadan