Written in 1890, it took 16 years for Spring Awakening to be
first performed as a play at theatres. Years later a musical was written. Often
banned or censored in its incarnations, Spring Awakening has made its way to
Cirencester in 2017 and is still surprising audiences. With hard subjects
covered it seems this story has a timeless quality. It looks at aspects of
human nature that can be universally embarrassing and awkward, no matter what
time period it occurs in.
The play depicts society as hypocritically repressive, as
the individuals in society are often very interested in controversial things.
Stripping the characters psychologically naked, we see aspects of them that if
it were our own lives, we would probably gloss over. A mother too embarrassed
to educate her daughter on reproduction, boys using peer pressure to mock each
other and girls who hear a terrible truth from one of their friends, but
ultimately do nothing about it. These are themes that are common to many people
growing up.
When Wendla becomes pregnant because she has sexual urges
without understanding that it leads to pregnancy, her mother casts blame
because Wendla doesn’t know better. In a hand to mouth society as it was back
then, there wasn’t much room for compassion. Wendla’s mother had a big problem
to deal with, but herself lacking the education she forced her daughter down a
terrible path.
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| The final applause! |
In all, this a challenging yet entertaining play that mocks
how society can try and appear proper and refined, using shame to plug the holes
of curiosity. It shows in fact this facade causes a much greater problem
compared to educating and openly discussing taboos.
Make sure to get a ticket if any are left before the
weekend!
To book tickets follow this link! https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/EMDHEE
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