Drama comes in many forms and this year's final GCSE examination performances were no exception! The work was created and performed in five groups. The creative inspiration was a piece of contemporary film music by Craig Armstrong called 'Glasgow*. 'Big Brother's Watching You', a piece about the way we are all being surveyed today; 'Heaven Sent, Hell Bent', a slightly surreal comic play set in Limbo; 'Storm', the toy shop as a microcosm of life today; 'No Man's Land', a view of the world as a totally female society and 'When the Lights Go Out'.

This year forms in years seven, eight and nine performed role-plays in the theme of one of Shakespeare’s plays to celebrate St George’s day, the 444th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth.
The forms either got into groups or did a whole form performance. This year we had to choose a subject themed on Shakespeare’s play ‘A Midsummer night’s dream’ and then create a story six months from when the play ended. The subjects were: The Lovers, The Mechanicals (Bottom, Flute, Quince) and The Fairies. We were given two weeks to practise our role-play, year eight a little less due to a school trip.

29 hours of intensive,uninterrupted rehearsal +
26 girls from forms I II and III in the Senior School +
1 producing company called Upstage Productions+
1 Drama Teacher from school+
1 Audience of 100 people+
1 set of costumes=
1 50 minute performance called 'The Dreamer'

A very jolly combination it was too, of people,acting, singing and dancing in the Marian Hall from 7to 11 April.The judgement of both the performers and the audience was that it had been an incredibly worthwhile experience and one that is worth repeating another year!

Well done to all who decided to use one week of their Easter holiday in focused creativity!

Drama Day 2008 challenged the four houses to create a 15 minute play in a morning, complete with set, costumes, props, lighting and music on the theme of ‘Reflections’. The V Form House Prefects were magnificent! They had each planned carefully the style, plot, and ‘look’ of the performance. Each member of the House was busily involved in the creation and the performances in the afternoon. All had large casts of actors, dancers, singers and instrumentalists. It was really splendid to see the I Form working alongside the V Form in a genuinely happy and creative atmosphere. Congratulations to all who took part and thank you for giving the school such varied and accomplished performances. Incidentally, St. John’s House were the winners this year!

On 4 March the IV and V year GCSE Drama students visited The New Victoria Theatre, Woking to see Peter Shaffer’s ‘Sleuth’. The play is wonderfully crafted and we appreciated the twists and turns of the plot. The set was a really detailed depiction of the Drawing room of a Manor House, with staircases and landings it was in fact typical of the settings of a traditional murder mystery play. Sadly for us the lead actor was unwell and his substitute, while trying hard to step into the shoes, was non-the-less disappointing. Never mind; there will be more theatre visits to come!

Sounds of laughter and enjoyment could be heard from the Marian Hall on Thursday when Alton Convent Sixth Form joined with students from Salesian College to provide an evening of comedy, music and drama. The second of its kind, the aim was to raise funds in order to send handicapped children to Lourdes.
After the chance to socialise over a delicious ploughman's supper, the audience were in for a treat! The first displays of talent came from Katie and Izzi with their portrayal of two politicians- as always making perfect sense!

Mr Whatnot, Death and the Maiden, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Humble Boy, A Memory of Lizzie and Arcadia were the plays chosen by this year's V Form for their performances of extracts from plays. A supportive audience of parents and friends were moved emotionally in responses as varies as the texts: sometimes tenderly sympathizing with the characters' predicaments, sometimes laughing hysterically or whimsically and sometimes just intrigued by the plots. Whatever the emotional response there was plenty to admire in the diversity of the girls' theatrical skills.

A very powerful production of the Phantom of the Opera delighted members of the Lower Sixth when they joined members of Salesian College Sixth Form for an evening out in London last week. The previous week the Lower Sixth girls had marvelled at the Opera House in Paris where the musical is set, although they did not set foot in the Phantom's box!

After our museum visits, the time came to sit back in our seats and enjoy the show, which fitted well into our history topic as it depicted the turmoil of the 1930s and 40s. As the curtains went back and we saw the wonderful set, we were all on the edges of our seats with excitement. As the first song was sung, we were all clapping so loudly that you could hear it a mile away! Aoife as Maria was brilliant, and we were really impressed by how well the Von Trapp children acted, sang and danced. The Nazis were particularly scary in the Salzburg festival and the cemetery. As it came to an end and the actors took their bows we all jumped up and cheered. On the journey back to school, we could not stop talking about it!

Year 3 and 4 travelled up to Wimbledon’s Polka Theatre for their production of Roald Dahl’s BFG. Our seats at the front of the stalls kept us close to the action, and really involved in the story, perhaps too involved as unfriendly giants rampaged through the auditorium. The challenge of adapting a novel about giants and ‘human beans’ to the stage was met brilliantly through the use of puppets, with Susan Harrison acting the role of Sophie brilliantly but also working a puppet of her character on stage. We enjoyed Tim Barlow’s attempts at gobblefunk and whizpopping in the title role, especially after Year 3’s own attempts at the former. Keith Baker’s clever set captured much of the magic of Quentin Blake’s illustrations, particularly in the scenes set in Buckingham Palace. A straw poll of our discerning audience gave the show 10/10.

Photo by Robert Workman