Teacher Newspaper Review
Vital Classes
Massimo Marinoni’s Animal Studies Class: Students on the one-year course have spent a lot of time at the Cotswold Wildlife Park, each studying an animal of his choice. Now they have to show Marinoni what they’ve observed. Marinoni Lithe and walks like cat himself. He carries a stopwatch and never smiles. “No fidgeting!” he snaps. He is, frankly, terrifying. The students stretch their bodies into new shapes. Some are better than others at prowling. Marinoni slinks around the class, whispering suggestions. “We are working towards turning the animal into a human character,” explains Jennifer Pasquill, 23 years old student from Vancouver. “It’s another way of getting us out of ourselves.” After 45 minutes of relentless severity, Marinoni professes himself satisfied and relaxes. He is a human after all. He leaves the class, then returns unexpectedly. “My other class is over-running,” he announces. “Somebody hasn’t got a stop-watch.”
Back Stage (2nd of March, 2000).
