Editor’s Note: Kyiv has many great schools, including several international schools – Kyiv, British and Pechersk – among them. With this issue, the Kyiv Post launches coverage of these students, an important part of the city’s community.
They wear school uniforms and rehearse in a gymnasium. But on March 25, they will re-enact the London underworld of the 19th century by staging the musical “Oliver!” in Kyiv’s Teacher’s House.
They are no ordinary actors, these 32 schoolchildren from the British International School in Kyiv.
Professional musician John Beswick came all the way from London’s West End to direct the play based on Charles Dickens’ novel “Oliver Twist.” With a voice strained from singing, Beswick led students at a recent rehearsal of the “Oom-pah-pah” song.
“What I love about productions like this one is that amateurs love to act and do it from the heart. Professionals do it to pay their mortgage,” Beswick said. “I’m amazed that children are so good acting not in their first language.”
Mark Kharkhalis, 10, has the lead part of waif Oliver. He is a Ukrainian, but his smooth English would not reveal that. “The best part is that I appear almost in every scene, the bad part was that I had to learn too many words,” said Kharkhalis, his pale complexion and blue dreamy eyes boding well with the image of Oliver.
It will be his first performance in public, but he said he was not afraid of acting. “I had stage fright only once, when I was presenting my mom with flowers. She is a ballet dancer.”
A part of the gang’s leader of juvenile pickpockets, the role of Fagin was snatched up by Ivan Shestunov, 15. The big bad boy role was coveted by many, but Shestunov beat the competitors.
“It’s a hard role because Fagin is not a clear-cut character,” said the actor. “He’s an evil guy, but at the same time he’s against violence. At one point he’s bad, but then he turns out kind.”
A guitar player, Shestunov said the play was a good experience for him because he wants to become a musician.
Everyone’s excited about the dress rehearsals. Students had to come up with the costumes themselves. “I wanted to wear a red hat, pointy shoes and pirates’ clothes,” said Jeremy Steyn, 13, from South Africa. He plays Mr. Bumble, a parish beadle who puts Oliver to work.
Students auditioned first in September 2009, but the swine flu outbreak put off the performance until March.
Artistic director Beswick has conducted opera and musical theater across the United Kingdom and America, including shows Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Avenue Q and Monkey: Journey to the West. He also worked on projects with socially disadvantaged adults and among prisoners.
To see “Oliver!” you can book your ticket with the British International School in advance. The entrance is free of charge.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuliya Popova can be reached at [email protected]
The British International School
www.bisk.kiev.ua
+38 (044) 400-2110, 400-8352
