‘You’re either in or you’re out’

If you took a group of British schoolgirls and stranded them on an island, would they turn savage?

Remember, they’re from England — a country long known for parliamentary procedure, afternoon tea and bobbies who had no need to carry guns.

And they’re girls, the so-called gentle sex.

“Middle school girls can be really mean and nasty to each other,” said Sammi Uggle, one of the young actors in Wilkes University’s all-female production of “Lord of the Flies.”

So if you come to the show, set for five performances April 20 through April 23 at the Darte Center on campus, don’t be surprised to see characters shed the vestiges of civilization just as the schoolboys did in the novel author William Golding wrote in the early 1950s.

“It’s not really about the gender,” cast member Jay’na Johnson said. “But about the actual story.”

In the actual story, which you may remember from the list of required reading when you were in high school, you meet the characters Ralph, Jack and Piggy.

Ralph, also known in this stage play as Rae and portrayed by Aariyana Gould, is concerned about maintaining a semblence of order on the island and hoping for rescue.

Jack, portrayed by Johnson, considers Rae a rival and revels in hunting for food.

And it quickly becomes clear that Piggy, the kid who is more intellectual and less physically fit than the others, and whose glasses can be useful for starting fires, is an outcast.

“I relate to Piggy,” said Sammi Uggle, who has that role. “I was the one that, in gym class, never had a partner. And when I had something that I knew in my heart was a good thing and wanted to say it, it would fall on deaf ears.”

Happily, as Uggle grew up, she found classmates becoming kinder and more mature.

But not all of the schoolgirls on this island will have a chance to grow up.

“I wouldn’t bring an elementary school student to this,” Uggle said, noting they might find the play disturbing.

Yet for older students, and adults, the play can be an interesting character study.

“I’ve been reflecting a lot on my character, the why and how of the way she acts,” Johnson said. “It’s about heirarchy, and you’re either in or you’re out. Jack sees the situation as an opportunity to take charge. She wants to be the leader and it’s not important to play nice or fair.”

“I wouldn’t call her evil, maybe because I know her so well,” Johnson said. “I think she’s very misguided.”

“Rae is very interesting to me,” Gould said. “Her thing is to get off the island and return to society. But when some of the islanders become violent, she also falls in with that group. She’s supposed to be ‘the good one,’ but there are some morally gray areas here.”

“Piggy is different,” Uggle said, noting that character is “comes across as insightful or thoughtful.” She’s the only character who wears sweats instead of a uniform, a sign that she attends public rather than prep school. “Our take on it (another reason she’s different) is that she might be going through puberty earlier than everybody else.”

Directed by Wilkes assistant professor of theatre arts Alison Morooney, the show is physical and exciting, cast members said, and you won’t want to miss the rugby game the characters play with a conch shell.

Performances will be 8 p.m. April 20, 21 and 22 and 2 p.m. April 22 and 23 in the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center. Tickets are $15 general admission. Call 570-408-4540 for reservations.

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