Class of 77

Peter and I went to see my son Jai's year 12 students perform this play "CLASS OF 77" on Friday night. This was Jai's first play direction as a Drama teacher. It was a very entertaining night.

You can see more photos here in my "Class of 77" set on Flickr

Jai played a small part as a body guard. He is in some of the smaller photos within the mosaics.

The shots aren't very sharp as they were the first photos I took with my new Canon Rebel XTi and I didn't get a chance to work out all the settings. All of the photos were taken with the flash off.

The Play:

Class of 77 is a story about the process of change, of growing up and making the best of what we are confronted with in life. Sure, it’s a comedy, it’s a love story, it’s a musical but essentially it’s about not regretting the past, our youth, and making the most of the present. Live in the moment and plan for the future.

The story revolves around year 12 students attending a school in Sydney’s outer suburbs. The 1970’s was the decade before computers, mobile phones, AIDS and political correctness. Hippies, flares, long hair and women’s liberation were in vogue and life was seemingly more carefree. Two of the main characters Michael and Jenny symbolize teenage romance and the emerging independent female. The Torana boys, the nerd, the liberated hippie, the party boy and the strange exchange student were all stereotypes of this decade.



In the second act we meet our characters 15 years later in the de3cadent, swinging early 90’s. They are adults and in a changed world. Some have become very successful, whilst others have had a more difficult time. Old flames are reignited and each of the characters learns something about themselves. Michael and Jenny need to patch up the hurt and mistrust and eventually find their way through. For all, the last song says it all – the best is yet to come!



Written by: David Hines

David’s background is diverse, encompassing all types of music and theatre. Stating with violin at the age of five he has played in several orchestras and was a member of a number of rock bands playing the Sydney circuit in the 70’s and 80’s. Proficient on many instruments David has written and arranged a wide variety of music. In 1982 he won an award for the music used in a series of television commercials for the Commonwealth Games of that year. David has also had a long interest in theatre and dramatic productions including “Beauty and the Beast” “Grease” “Buddy” “Little Shop of Horrors” and many others. David’s 10 minute musical “The Morning After” was a finalist in this year’s “Short, Sweet & Song” festival in Sydney.

Class of 77 is David’s first full length musical and premiered in Sydney in 2006. Since then there have been over a dozen productions in Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. David is currently working on a second musical TIMELESS which is scheduled for completion in 2009.

Links:

Class of 77

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