It has been another successful year for the Drama Department. Full, as always, with lots of performances, rehearsals, trips and workshops.

Just before Christmas, auditions for the school’s annual production ‘Grease’ (see page 68) took place with Tom Millar and Gina Sinclair cast in principal roles. After many weeks and weekends of rehearsals, the performances on the 26th and 27th of March, as well as a matinee performance to the whole of Primary, was a roaring success. The whole cast managed to produce a very professional piece of theatre. The acting, singing and dancing were all superb. The production was only possible due to all the extra help offered by both Primary and Secondary staff as well as parents and the students themselves. So, a massive thank you to everyone involved.
In December whilst the lower school was busy with auditions and rehearsals, the Year 13s performed a creative devised piece of theatre. Charlee Eason, Oliver Bahbout and Chaz Packwood’s piece, ‘Limits’, educated the audience and highlighted the consequences of drink- driving using theatre as a tool.

In February, Terry and I took the Sixth Form Drama students to London. Fun was to be had by all, to say the least. Drama students were able to go on tours backstage at the National Theatre as well as Shakespeare’s Globe which for me was one of the highlights of the trip. The whole group also participated in a workshop, focusing on Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’. It was led by one of the actors who had performed at the Globe. We then made our way down the South Bank, performing installation pieces on the way to passers by, along with the other street performers.

With London being the best place to see Drama, we were fortunate enough to watch both contemporary pieces of theatre as well as musicals, ‘Spring Awakening’ at the Lyric theatre, a firm favourite of all, as well as ‘War Horse’ at The National, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at the Southwark Playhouse and, finally, ‘Grease’ at the Piccadilly Theatre. The whole trip was a total hit and is definitely something that we are all looking forward to next year.

The summer term brought with it a series of performance evenings. With exams looming the GCSE and AS/A2 Drama groups were busy devising, creating and rehearsing, in preparation for the examinations during April and May.
Each piece was original, moving and sophisticated. Many of the audience members, made up of staff, parents and friends said how fortunate they were to see so many creative and entertaining pieces of theatre.

The Year 11 drama group transformed the studio using a repertoire system, performing three contrasting pieces on the same evening. They devised and scripted their own work. Each piece was set in different parts of the world; Spain, Ireland and China and were produced totally by the students themselves.
The following week, the Year 12s (Laura Jackson, Candice Fox, Ginny Francis, Zareena Fitchett, Perli Miller-Todd, Ami Partridge, Denny South and Lucas Whittaker) were directed in the play ‘Find Me’. The performance took place in the Founders Hall and the piece was totally contemporary. It showed just how talented these students really are.

The performance evenings concluded with the Year 13s showing an adaptation of ‘The Author’s Voice’ aptly named, ‘Reallusion’ in the studio, and what a performance it was! Overall, a dramatic few months that concluded with five fantastic pieces of theatre.

Whilst most of the Secondary school was away on trips or on study leave, Drama workshops were carried out for a full week within the Primary school. Year 6 participated in a full day of master classes and the rest of the school was involved in workshops throughout the week. Year 10 and 12 students were on hand to support the younger students. The ‘Primary Arts Week’ was really beneficial and offered a link between Primary and Secondary departments.
As you can see, the Drama Department has been really busy this year. It continues to produce performances that are the highlight of the school calendar. We are already in preparation for next year’s musical . . . watch this space.

Ellie Caffrey

'A' Level Drama

What an interesting year it has been! In typical drama fashion, there have been highs and lows, laughter, tears, bizarre jokes, endless missed deadlines, ‘prove-the-teacher-wrong’ games and, of course, a great deal of intense and hard work! Oliver, Charlee and Chaz have been suitably ‘dramatic’ all year, and it has been my pleasure to teach them and to watch them grow into articulate, talented, confident actors and practitioners. Oliver’s strange Australian twang, Chaz’ immortal words (“I forgot it”) and Charlee’s cheerful and diligent work ethic are just a few memories I will treasure of this special class.

After their devised piece, we cracked on with the rigorous demands of the specification - tackling first Euripides’ 2,500 year old play about war and man’s brutal inhumanity, “The Trojan Women”. The students all formulated their own fully-developed directorial concepts for productions of this play and many interesting and arresting ideas were presented. This is a mammoth undertaking as it draws on all the many elements of theatre (including style and design elements) and knowledge accumulated over years of study.

For Unit 5, the students chose, as their performance piece, an adaptation of a play by Richard Greenberg. The original play was entitled “The Author’s Voice” and they developed their own unique ‘take’ on it, focusing on the themes of vanity, illusion and deceptive appearances. They called their piece “Reallusion” and it proved to be an extremely impressive production, featuring superb acting and a taut plot with a neat twist. I don’t think any of us will forget the lengthy, taxing rehearsals or the various experiments with “mouth pieces” that were forced upon an unwilling Chaz! But the outcome was a very mature, engaging piece of theatre and I was extremely proud of their work!

Then it was on to an in-depth study of the performance history of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, based upon the electrifying performance we saw in Stratford-upon-Avon in February, starring Anthony Sher and John Kani. This bold, vivid and memorable African production thrilled and delighted us all, and gave us an excellent starting point for researching productions of the play over the centuries.

It has been a challenging year - but once again the A level Drama students have risen magnificently to the challenges and have delivered work of a very high standard. It has been my pleasure to teach them and I wish them all a future bright with success and fulfilment!

Terry Nicholas