The Devil's Shorts

Well last night was my only night at home this week. Well I wasn't actually at home. Jo and I went to the theatre. There is a small play house theatre in Hobart. It's a real old fashioned place that only seats about 80 people. It has an old fashioned bar at the back and the patron's get a drink and bring it to their seats. The theatre had advertised in paper a program called, 'The Devil's Shorts'. It was a collection of six short one act dramas. Most of them went about 10 -15 minutes. They had a five minute break after each one and a longer break after the first three.



It was actually quite good. Each of the plays was very different and done with just two or three actors on the stage and just very basic props and no scenery. The people in the plays ranged in age from very young to rather old. It was certainly a bit of fun and something different. It opens your eyes a little bit to some of the possibilities of presenting short dramas without needing elaborate sets and lots of people. Drama if done well can be a powerful medium to communicate a message. I have been to a number of Willow Creek conferences where they have talked about drama. They use drama to role play situations and issues that can then be addressed in the sermon. At Hobart we are using alot of visual material in video clips and Power Point. In our current series we are using a simple drama each week. We had the first one last Sunday and it went over very well. We are currently interviewing staff for both youth ministry and also worship and creative arts. Hopefully the right person will be able to enrich and develop the talents of the people we already have. I must find a way to encourage all our staff to go to something quite innovative and creative often. Creativity is a vital ingredient in ministry.