Page 254 - Guildhall Coverage Book 2020-21

Perhaps the student show that best exemplifies the fight-back spirit of 2020 is to be found at York,
where the university drama society has streamed a radical Covid-conceived version of
Aristophanes’s battle of the sexes comedy Lysistrata, recorded on Zoom, performed by 15 freshers,
each in their own room.

Set amid “Lockdown 22” with male anti-mask protesters on the streets, and women remaining
dutifully indoors, it sets “an ancient Greek farce into conversation with the farcical reality of
today,” avers English student and co-director Tegan Steward, 20.

She has never actually met her cast or team in person. The budget for the show? A fiver, spent on
face masks. But she brims with excitement. “Yes, it’s daunting making theatre right now. But I
think the weight of that is a driving force to create something to be proud of,” she says. “Whatever
the opportunities are, grasp them!”

It’s been a very tough year, with more challenges to follow in 2021 – vaccine or not – but fortune
may yet favour the brave, and the young; it’s a case, perhaps, of whosoever dares may yet seize The
Crown.

Guildhall’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream broadcast live Thurs-Sat. Details
at gsmd.ac.uk/autumn_2020/a_midsummer_nights_dream/