Stolen Footsteps - stolen from kirsten's drama journal

On the 11th of august a group of us went and saw a play named …stolen footsteps. upon first arriving I was a little bit sceptical about whether or not it would be interesting at all because all I knew about it was that it was about a boy who gets bullied.
When we first got into the room there were a bunch of people on stage acting like kids do in the school yard. It was cool because they were playing “clapping games” that we use to play when we were in primary school.
After a long time of waiting, the play finally started. It was about a boy who had moved from school to school because of continuous bullying and torment from his fellow peers. After a teacher trying to get him to tell someone and a new girls trying to get him to talk about it he gets his final beating. This causes him to realise he has to tell someone. So he does, the principle. All he says is “we do not have a bullying problem in this school, never have and never will.” these words results in him killing himself, his guardian angel being put on trial for not helping and a principle still in denial.
I enjoyed this play for two reasons.
One was that this story was so realistic. It touched on so many issues that do happen in today’s schools. A lot of school do try to cover up a lot of bad things that could ruin a schools reputation.
Two the way they told the story. They made it show why a lot of the time, things don’t get done to help the victim. They showed the kinds of cliques there are in schools and what kind of people bullies usually are. All of this just made you think about people you know who act this sort of way at school.
I really disliked the two ladies who sort of told part of the story in their own subliminal way. It’s like they tried to make them a comic relief but the way I see it is, this story didn’t need them. It ruined the illusion of a sad, sickening story. You were just getting into a good part of the story that really made you feel sad and then they would come out and make you laugh. Which made me feel quite bad for laughing in a story that was meant to be serious and touching.
I found it interesting in the way they had a janitor who was erasing the boys future. I got a little confused about exactly what he was doing at the end though. They are right though. If you cant let go and be stronger then you are stuck in one place and don’t really have a future because you are too busy dwelling on how shit your life is because you don’t know how to take control of your surroundings.
Overall this play was really interesting definitely one of my top 5 plays I’ve seen. Maybe because in a way everyone can relate to this story. Not just because they themselves have been bullied but also because they have seen, heard or even been the bully. This is the kind of play that people need to show schools. Its one thing to tell people its wrong but to actually show them why its wrong would have a much better impact, if they pay attention that is…