An Open Stage
How a Dover Campus theatre production showcases UWCSEA's interdisciplinary approach to learning


In UWCSEA Dover’s multi-grade production – Running Wild – lights, Gamelan scores, and the sounds of nature and life-like animal puppets create an immersive stage experience. Students become actors in a creative and energetic space where music, art, and dance collide.
This joint production by students, staff, and parents took to the stage in May and delivered a captivating theatre experience. Together, actors and audience embarked on an enchanting journey, sharing powerful lessons of loss, survival, and love.
Magic of the Jungle
Michael Morpurgo’s Running Wild follows the protagonist, Will, and his mother, on a holiday to Indonesia. Tragedy strikes soon after when a tsunami sweeps across the island, rendering Will an orphan, alone in the jungle and in a fight for survival. Will befriends an elephant called Oona and together they must stay alive against the forces of nature and the shady characters hidden in the jungle.
Set as a traverse stage, the Black Box was fashioned into a theatre configuration where the audience sat on either side of a long, narrow stage. The intention behind the set was to embed the audience in the action, bringing them closer to the performers with a view from multiple angles. Additionally, the non-naturalistic approach to set design allowed for an abstract representation of the Tsunami, Wreckage and Jungle, rather than a literal interpretation, making space for our cast and puppets to create the backdrop for the story.
The audience was transported to Indonesia from the moment they entered the theatre. Percussive birdsong and jungle animal sounds echoed through the theatre. Using recycled cardboard, floating chairs and projections, the set designers breathed life into the production. A Gamelan orchestra set high above the stage brought the narrative to life through traditional Indonesian music, rousing emotions and adding authenticity to the entire experience.


Learning through theatre
Middle School Drama Teacher, Jay Douglass, was in charge of artistic direction, and weaved elements of the UWCSEA curriculum into the play’s narrative. Environmental stewardship, animal welfare, disaster response and peacebuilding all featured. Concepts such as empathy, social justice, abuse of power, as well as the power of language also featured as students explored and interpreted this interdisciplinary creative experience in a natural and fluid way.
Peer-to-peer learning emphasised the importance of mentorship across ages, abilities, specialisations and interests. The implementation of a split cast and rotation between lead and ensemble roles also taught students the significance of all roles and responsibilities while exposing them to diverse perspectives and working styles.

Oona the elephant, and the rest of the puppets, was purpose-built for the production. Oona is operated by four student actors inside the body, and one outside, who manipulates the elephant's trunk. Puppets were designed with traditional Indonesian aesthetics in mind, with many adorned in batik prints.
The production was conceived with a Traverse Stage, where audience members sit on either side, facing each other. This makes for a more interactive experience, but also presents a more complex staging for the actors, who must emote in multiple directions.
One side of the stage showed the giant tsunami wave and debris leftover from the flood, while the other side had the Gamelan ensemble playing live on an elevated stage above the actors.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Action Running Wild is a true cross-campus collaboration of departments. Aside from our Drama department, which coordinated the production, the following were involved: Music: The Gamelan Ensemble, organised by Music Teacher Miles Tranter, music composed by Bryan, a Grade 11 IB student Foundation: Thanks to generous funding from our Foundation, Faezan Redwan, a Gamelan specialist, worked for the year on Dover as 'artist in residence' in the Music Department. Faezan led our Gamelan ensemble. HS Art: Head of Visual Arts Seth Madden helped G9 students to create the Batik Prints used to decorate the puppets Ideas HUB: HS Head Of Technology Carl Waugh and Ideas Hub Technical Manager Nicholas Hong led our Student Imagineers in building the smaller puppets and use the G9 Batik Prints. Service: MS Global Concerns coordinators Veronica Jansen and Susan Edwards raised awareness at the performances for relevant GC partnerships like Jakarta Street Kids. Design & Technology Teacher Emma Davies helped with laser cutting merchandise for service partnerships from recycled wood. Counselling: Counsellor Chris Kearnes prepared a resource pack to help deal with thematic issues such as Grief and PTSD. Library: Librarian Angie Erickson is promoting Running Wild (script and novel) as a summer/term time book. She also created a microsite with student journalists to document the rehearsal process. Alumni: Maeischa Fox '20 was the official production multimedia producer, Thomas Diggle '23 assisted with managing backstage, and Heather Wood '22 assisted with library collaborations. Language - MS Mathematics Teacher Yenni Widjaja did the lead translations, with assistance from alumni Annabel Thalia Lembong and Bahasa speaking cast members Alicia, Ashley and Tisha who also acted as language dialect coaches. |
An Intercultural Connection
In line with our growing intercultural competencies on campus and ongoing work with translanguaging, the play incorporated many authentic Indonesian elements.
The cultural link to Indonesia was emphasised through music, production design, language and the play's connection with environmental causes supported by UWCSEA.

Bryan talks about composing for the Gamelan as a component of his IB classwork.
Bryan talks about composing for the Gamelan as a component of his IB classwork.
Music
The script encourages actors to, “use music and song throughout, imaginatively and liberally” (Adamson, Samuel. Running Wild, 2015). Channelling this approach, the play ties in Gamelan, the traditional ensemble music of the Indonesian islands of Bali, Java and Sumatra. The production’s Gamelan score was composed by Grade 11 student, Bryan, as part of his International Baccalaureate (IB) project work. Bryan and the student orchestra worked under the guidance of ‘Artist in Residence’ and Gamelan specialist, Faezan Redwan, and Miles Tranter, a music teacher at UWCSEA Dover.
"Gamelan was the perfect medium to showcase contrasting background music and the two-way relationship between puppets and the cast on stage. Learning a new style of composing was an enriching experience as it opened my eyes to new ideas on how to add to the mood, suspense and excitement of the story. ”


Language
As the play is set in Indonesia, Yenni Widjaja, a Middle School teacher, along with three Bahasa Indonesia speakers, Ashley (Grade 6), Tisha (Grade 11), and Alicia (Grade 9), translated sections of the script for a stronger cultural link and assisted fellow students with pronunciations.
"We all got a really deep understanding of the cultural values while learning the linguistic similarities and differences we share across our home languages."
Alicia talks about her experience as a Bahasa Indonesia dialect coach for the production.
Alicia talks about her experience as a Bahasa Indonesia dialect coach for the production.
Tisha reflects on her experience in production design.
Tisha reflects on her experience in production design.
Puppetry & Production Design
The IDEAS Hub collaborated with students and parent volunteers to create an impressive collection of hand-stick puppets using upcycled materials. They crafted 2-metre-long snakes, 6 fishes, 10 lizards, and 10 butterflies. Snakes were assembled with 3D printed parts and sewn fabric, while colourful hand-printed fabric from the Art department adorned them. Fishes were stuffed with old newspapers and covered in fabric, while lizards featured swivel joints created with a laser cutter. Puppet sticks were repurposed from a dismantled hydroponics structure, and butterflies were made with laminated coloured paper on bamboo chopsticks.
Students experimented with puppetry techniques, paying attention to weight, focus, and breath to mimic animal movements and emotions. They were guided by West End actors Romina Hytten and Lillian Tsang, from the Westend Production of "Life of Pi", who shared their expertise, on puppeteering. Hytten, an Olivier Award winner for best-supporting actor in the role of Richard Parker the tiger, also played the original roles of Mani, and the tiger in the debut of Running Wild.



Service
Global Concern groups such as Jakarta Street Kids, Promoting Animal Welfare (PAW) and more, set up booths raising awareness of connected issues. The production also surfaced real-life situations like deforestation and animal trafficking, prompting the audience to reflect on their own choices and how they impact environmental sustainability.
We have more information about some of our Indonesian and environmental GC connections on our Running Wild Backstage Site.









