Interviewer: So, Hansel and Grettel don’t like their Stepmother and Kamal’s an orphan. The Sikh is a scary member of society like the witch and the children are the victims in both stories. Both stories have a saviour; in Hansel and Grettel, it is Auntie Gertrude, in The Crooked Tree, it is Ruskin.
Interviewer: In what time was your piece set? How did you show this?
Jemma: Hansel and Grettel originates from Medieval times when witches were burned at the stake. It had been passed on by word of mouth and modernised. We set the story in the modern day and showed this by out costumes and using an oven instead of a stake.
Ruskin: My story was set in about 1957, after the communal holocaust. I wrote about Kamal’s story of how he lost both his parents and also gave the readers his age so they could work out the approximate year that the story is set in.
Interviewer: They are both set in past times but Hansel and Grettel is a folk story, The Crooked Tree is a story written more recently and has not been passed down for generations or modernised.
Interviewer: What country was your piece set in?
Jemma: Hansel and Grettel is a German folk tale, the German names Hansel and Grettel are actually the equivalent of Hans and Greta, names still used there today. We carried on the tradition and set our story in Germany. We showed this by having Auntie Gertrude, another German name, as our narrator.
Ruskin: My story is set in India. I showed this by giving some history and place names. Also, by clothes because Kamal’s mother wore a sari.
Interviewer: So Hansel and Grettel is German whereas The Crooked Tree is Indian, so both stories are foreign but both are written in or available in English.
Interviewer: How do you think society was portrayed in your piece?
Jemma: Well, Hansel and Grettel are in an unhappy and sometimes scary environment at home and when they first go into the woods, it is calm and there’s nobody around. When they find the house and first meet the witch, she is very generous; the children fall under her charms and are lured into the house. The witch then tries to cook them; this reflects the unfair, fake people in today’s society. This also teaches children the danger of talking to strangers.
Ruskin: Kamal is not alone in being an orphan and having to live on the streets, it was a common problem after the massacres due to India and Pakistan becoming republics. For these orphans, the world was a very scary place, especially if you had an illness like Kamal. People were not well-educated and believed him to be cursed when he suffered from epilepsy. The story also portrays hope and kindness when I take him in and look after him.
Interviewer: Both stories are set in quite scary places and times. Scary people are balanced out by pleasant people but in Hansel and Grettel, not everyone is as they seem, in The Crooked Tree, everyone is how they seem.
Interviewer: How did your performance reflect on the culture of the story you based your ideas on?
Jemma: Auntie Gertrude wore a take on traditional German costume, a green apron with blonde hair in two plaits.
Ruskin: Kamal’s mother wore a sari and the Sikh wore a large sword around his waist this is like an Indian soldiers uniform and the sari is a traditional Indian piece of clothing.
Interviewer: Both pieces used costume to set out the country they were set in.
Interviewer: How would you describe the style of your piece?
Jemma: I was a piece of theatre performed with audience interaction, comedy (when Hansel and Grettel fell over) and fright, (when the witch was glaring at the audience).
Ruskin: Hopeful, yet realistic. It is based on a real event and may be true for many people. It is hopeful because Kamal was helped by me, the narrator, and even when he failed his exams, he realised that he has another chance to pass them.
Interviewer: They both have fright in them, however, the crooked tree is more realistic and less funny than Hansel and Grettel.
Interviewer: How do you think the characters of your story relate to people living in our Western society today? How does it relate to thoughts in today’s society?
Jemma: Hansel and Grettel are just normal children who don’t like their stepmother, like when children argue with their parents. Auntie Gertrude is like a mother or a favourite Auntie. The witch is the equivalent of a stranger, someone mysterious who you don’t know. They seem nice but they might not be all they seem.
Ruskin: I am an ordinary man, someone who always helps, a role model. Kamal is a like a teenager, he is taking exams and worrying too much to really enjoy life.
Interviewer: They both have carers, Auntie Gertrude and Ruskin. They both have younger people, Hansel and Grettel and Kamal. They both have evil people, the witch and the cat and the Sikh.
Interviewer: Does your piece have a moral?
Jemma: Yes; don’t talk to strangers.
Ruskin: Yes; “you must pass your exams and go to college, but do not feel that if you fail, you will be able to do nothing.”
Interviewer: Both the stories have morals but “Hansel and Grettel’s” is advising against something but “The Crooked Trees’” is giving hope.
Thanks to both out guests for coming into the studio today.
