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Snowed Under: The Importance of Being Awesome

6 March 2012

by Stuart Flegg

“Rise, sir, from this semi-recumbent posture. It is most indecorous”

It is the final night of the most recent offering from Queen’s Campus drama society ACT. I’ve been involved with this latest production, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, and I’m watching from the wings.

“Mamma! I must beg you to retire…”

Our Gwendolen violently thrusts Jack down onto the stage much to the amusement of the audience. In the time between the writing of the play and our current performance, some of the verbal humour seems to have been lost. The physical comedy however, remains.

As much as I love the DSU, I have to admit that they have failed to provide the students of Queen’s Campus with any arts societies at all. The art society and musical theatre troupe are supported by John Snow College and ACT is associated with Stephenson. It’s not fair to blame the DSU for this, I admit, but in the interests of journalistic integrity and sensationalism it is exactly what I’m going to do.

ACT stands for Awesome College Theatre. It is a ridiculous acronym, and the society has tried and failed to shake it off. The president thought he had managed it this time until he saw it emblazoned across the booking page of the Stockton Arts Centre website. Personally, I have at least two objections to the name. In fact the only bit I approve of is the ‘theatre’.

I’m not being unkind when I say that the use of the word ‘awesome’ is overkill. Something truly awesome would – now how to put this – fill you with awe. I am not filled with awe. Impressed? Yes. But filled with indescribable awe which has left me dumbfounded? Not quite. This is not because I thought the acting was bad or anything like that. I actually thought it was quite good (even if I say so myself). I just believe that the word awesome should be kept aside, reserved for truly awesome things like the wonders of the world, the wonders of the universe and Professor Brian Cox. This ridiculous use of hyperbole is an American import, like workplace acronyms, Hannah Montana or spray on cheese – except not spray on cheese because there is no place for it in this country (nor, in fact, is there place for it in America.)

My other objection, in two parts, is to the word ‘College’. Firstly, ‘college’ doesn’t actually mean ‘college’ anymore. These days it means ‘centre for further education’ and given that Durham University is actually an institution for higher education, the word ‘college’ seems a little misleading. I’m not going to get all snobby about colleges though. I went to one myself and so did you. (By my reckoning, all sixth forms are colleges.)

The second objection, however, completely overlooks this. Assume you are thinking of a Durham University college and not a sixth-form college when you read ‘college’ in the acronym. This creates a new problem. ACT has members from both colleges here at Queen’s Campus. If anything the connection to only one of them has been a hindrance. The purse strings are held tightly by Stephenson; as a result our set was sadly simple (well, if they wouldn’t even give their students pancakes…) and to top it off, I’m sure that collegiate patriotism led to a reduced audience size. It certainly limited our advertising abilities.

I don’t know how ACT ended up in this state. I think there ought to be a definite course of action towards becoming a DSU society. There has been talk of it but nothing has materialised yet. This shilly-shallying about the question is quite absurd but until the problem reaches a resolution I’m going to unfairly blame the DSU. They may not be responsible for this per se but it is symptomatic of a much larger problem.

In the meantime ACT is propped up purely by its reserves of ‘awesome’.

Image: Selena N. B. H. (Flickr: moonlightbulb)

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  • Ant

    A quite superb article charting the highs and lows of uni life and low budget productions! I couldn’t agree more with your perspective on the misuse of the word ‘awesome’….the play did not inspire awe (comic joy and a renewed sense of hope in the human capacity for truimph over the odds….yes! however, that’s another story!)

    two references…LB! (one for Gwen)

  • Daniel Slavin

    Queen’s Campus has an APOSTROPHE

  • Lrobbinsross

    It’s a shame that you have not sufficiently researched the facts which may have given this article more gravitas instead of writing with a degree of ignorance about the way in which societies are established, managed and ratified.

    Firstly it is not a DSU responsibility to ‘provide’ societies to Queen’s Campus – it is down to students to establish these societies and make the decision, with their committee, as to whether they wish to be ratified through a College JCR or the DSU. In relation to Infinity Musical Theatre (or musical theatre ‘troupe’ as you refer to the society above) and ACT (as well as other cultural societies) it was decided by the committees of each to get ratification through the respective College JCR which has benefited them in terms of funding amongst other things.

    Secondly the issue concerning the acronym ACT is something which I think the existing President of ACT had an input to when establishing the society in 2010 with another student, who has since graduated.

    Thirdly your objection to the word ‘college’ in the society name I think is rather superfluous given the collegiate system of the University. However I agree with what you say about using the word ‘awesome’.

    Moving onto your point regarding members of both John Snow and Stephenson Colleges in ACT as well as the issue you have with the society being connected to one college. If you had spent time researching your issues then you would have realised that a society which does not choose to be ratified through the DSU can only be ratified through ONE College JCR, in this case the founding member of ACT was a Stephenson student and decided that ratification of the society should take place through Stephenson College JCR.

    In terms of the ‘simple set’ I would like to point out that in my experience with theatrical productions the artistic vision and decisions for any production is controlled by the production team, so I am unsure why you think being ‘associated’ with Stephenson College resulted in a simple set…?

    The ‘advertising abilities’ which you comment on as being ‘limited’ as well as a ‘reduced audience size’ due to ‘collegiate patrionism’ I think are totally unjust comments. Both colleges do their best in promoting societies which are open to both John Snow and Stephenson students and any extra adversiting aside from JCR emails is down to the committee of that particular society. IMT are ratified through John Snow JCR and I know, as Publicity Officer for IMT, that both Colleges promoted Footloose equally as much and as the society is open to both John Snow and Stephenson students we ensured promotion in both Colleges was effective.

    Finally in terms of ACT becoming a DSU society this is a decision which is made by the committee of the society. In wanting the society to become a DSU ratified society and given your current nomination for Senior DSU Rep. of John Snow College JCR I assume you have researched, in depth, the advatages and disadvantages as well as the financial implications of your proposal. However I hope the quality of the research exceeds the inadequately researched points made in your article

    I suggest that if you feel passionate about this then you take your suggestion directly to the committee or perhaps run for a position on the committee next term – I’m sure the society would be extremely happy to hear your views.

  • http://www.facebook.com/stuart.flegg Stuart Flegg

    On principle alone I will have to disagree with Luke (this
    is because he is disagreeing with me) although I do have to acknowledge his
    points. He is correct in stating that my opinions are superfluous, that accurately
    describes the entire blog. My error is that I mentioned a serious issue whilst
    writing not to inform but to entertain.

    Secondly, on a related note, I have not been very
    informative. As assistant director for The Importance of Being Earnest, I am aware
    of the issues and idiosyncrasies of ACT. It would not be right to mention them
    all here as that would make for a very long and rather dull post.

    I will however clarify the society’s association with Stephenson College. Stephenson funded ACT, their contribution
    covered the society’s printing bill and the not inconsiderable cost of hiring
    the ARC theatre. The funding for the set and props was secured from a different
    source. The production may have benefited from further funding but the grant
    appeared sufficient at the time so the society did not approach the JCR for
    further funding. This was on the understanding that the art society would
    create flats for the show, when this plan fell through it was too late and ACT
    failed to secure any further funding to compensate for the loss of this set.

    I understand that the ACT executive are considering becoming
    a DSU society (shilly shallying is a quote from the play). Doing so would mean
    access to funding may be harder but control of the accounts would transfer from
    Stephenson to the DSU. That may, or may not, be beneficial.

    Dan also, is correct there is an apostrophe in Queen’s
    Campus. “Queens Campus” would mean something else entirely.