Africa pull-out
Literature Festival
Photos and accounts from the Tanzania mission trip. Pages 9 - 12
Did you go this year? We did! Take a look at our reviews. Page 15
ASA TODAY
Issue 28, Term 1, 2014
The All Saints’ Academy Newspaper
www.asachelt.org
“The rest is silence.”
“Our students performed an outstanding version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet at the Rose Theatre. The acting ability of all the cast involving students from Year 8 - 12 was truly brilliant.” Mr McNiffe Principal
“As an ensemble, every student performed to a professional standard. Every character, in Hamlet, was clearly defined and the audience were taken through the story with drama, laughter, shocks and an acting tour-de-force. This has to be the best Shakespeare School’s Festival performance I have watched in 4 years. Superb!” Mr Clarkson Assistant Principal “What a production! From start to finish I was captivated. There were some amazing performances and it was obvious that the cast worked well together. Fantastic storytelling was evident throughout.” Miss Skelding PR & Marketing Manager By Mr Griffin
Second in English
Acting in any school play is nervewracking enough, and acting Shakespeare’s most famous play in a professional theatre only serves to increase the pressure. A cast of sixteen students set themselves this challenge, and rose to the occasion with spectacular success.
From the moment the lights came up to the last of many deaths on stage, the audience were spellbound at The Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury. As the death-toll mounted, tears were shed for the stark tragedy unfolding on the stage, but there were moments of laughter too. Josh Domm provided a welcome comic turn as a sequence of increasingly bizarre characters. Alex Borowicz was the first to die, her character losing life and crown in one brutal execution. This wasn’t enough to keep her off the stage,
as she returned in ghostly white to instruct Hamlet in his mission of revenge. Callum Bell, Polonius, fell a victim of mistaken identity, while Olly Ray, Laertes, was poisoned by his own sword. A core of older students led the production from the front. Their leadership and determination made it possible for younger students to take risks and give it their all. The ice-queen Gertrude was played by Emily Bond, who revealed Gertrude’s dark heart, while Megan Roberts’ spectacularly troubled Ophelia showed the unintend-
ed consequences of Hamlet’s revenge. The dastardly King, Claudius, was played with real gusto by Jose Lumactod, who managed to suggest a character with no moral fibre, and with an eye to the main chance. And yet, his was no caricature, but a really well thought out and considered performance. And finally, to Hamlet. One of the most complex characters ever set to paper, the troubled youth was embodied by Eloise Taylor, giving the most assured performance imaginable. She rose to the challenge of leading
such a talented company, and led them to new heights. Her struggle with her mother’s new husband was a constant undertone, like a theme in a minor key. For many members of the cast, this will be their last production at All Saints’ Academy. They have set a mark so high, so professional, that all future casts will have their work cut out to match it. And I hope that wherever they go in the future, they look back on their time in the company of Hamlet with real pride. Because they came together, something wonderful happened. Tout passe, l’amitie reste.