Drama

HOUSE DRAMA FESTIVAL RESULTS

Over the two nights we saw a variety of interpretations, dramatic styles and skill levels. Dr Steven Gration and Mrs. Jocelyn Moor-Carter were very clear in their adjudicating decisions and provided concise, helpful feedback.

Congratulations to all and in particular to:

6 Goblets for Dramatic Excellence –

Scott Bear – Scriptwriting, directing, acting – Turnock House

Karim Oreb – Scriptwriting, directing, acting – Melbourne House

Jesse Clough – Acting – Walker House

Michael Stuart – Scriptwriting, directing, producing – Delpratt House

Patrice Ciadella – Scriptwriting, directing, producing – Thorold House

Alex Purton – Acting – Biddle House

Adjudicator’s Award – This award is given at the discretion of the adjudicators for any aspect of performance or production: Atkinson House – for “the protestor/jungle” scene – a clash of two realities

THE OVERALL RESULTS FOR HOUSE DRAMA 2014

1. Turnock 2. Biddle 3. Delpratt 4. Thorold 5. Melbourne 6. Maughan 7. Atkinson 8. Surman, McKinley 10. Walker 11. Radcliffe 12. Kaiser

INTER-SCHOOL YOUTH THEATRESPORTS COMPETITION:

By Scott Bear Two teams of TSS boys competed in the Annual Inter-School Youth Theatresports competition. Theatresports is a competition that involves teams of actors improvising one, two, three and four-minute scenes. The skills of thinking on your feet, incorporating dramatic and comic techniques and working as a team are important for success. At the end of each game each team is scored out of 10, with the two teams with the highest scores at the end of the night moving on to the next round.

TSS hosted our heat in May with our two teams competing against All Saints, St Stephens, Assisi and Robina SHS. The TSS teams were: Junior Team: Saxon Wood, Tom Fuhrmann, Foster Lane and Ethan Word

Senior Team: Oscar Churchill, Joel Gray, Dan O’Neill, Isaiah Richardson and Scott Bear.

The Junior team competed for the first time and did a magnificent job working together and feeding off each other’s ideas. The Senior team, with only one person that had competed in this competition before the night, did an excellent job and were strong performers throughout the whole night with glimpses of comedy and tragedy. The Senior team were one of the two teams, along with St Stephens, that moved on to the Quarter Finals in July. This competition was held at St Peter’s in Brisbane and we faced very experienced teams and just missed out on advancing to the Semi-finals. Thanks to Ms Francis for providing this opportunity and for coaching our teams.

STORIES IN THE DARK – TERM FOUR PLAY

By Daniel O’Neill On November 18 and 19 the TSS Drama Company performed the play Stories in the Dark in the Drama Studio. The play followed three boys, Thomas, Aaron and Axel, trying to survive the trials and tribulations of being lost, alone and fighting to survive in a war-torn city. As the boys coped with the various emotions induced by war, Aaron, the eldest boy, told stories to keep the boys from bickering and fighting.

The stories included humorous giants, a greedy king and a bad case of mistaken identity. The boys played these characters with vigour, switching from comical to sombre in an instant. The Theatre Crew provided great dramatic

atmosphere through lighting, music and sound effects. The play was directed by Ms Di Francis and Mr Chris George. Overall the production was an incredible success and the boys definitely learnt a lot through the experience.

Cast

Lead Actors: Jack Hutchison, Daniel O’Neill, Joel Gray, Saxon Wood, Foster Lane, Samuel Stevens

Ensemble: Oscar Butler, Samuel Cookson-Butler, Beau Foort, Calum Lockett, Oliver Martin, Isaiah Richardson, Luke van Herwaarde

Crew: Lighting: Tom Wright, Michael Murdoch, Ehab Hertz Sound: Harrison Goodman, Rory Wood Vision: Archer Southwood Assistant Crew: Andrew Ridgeway

DRAMA SHOWCASE NIGHTS

By Scott Bear At the end of Terms One, Two and Three the Drama Department held performance nights to showcase the dramatic talents of students in Years 9, 10, 11 and 12. These nights gave the boys an opportunity to present their assessment tasks to an audience of family and friends in a relaxed atmosphere. In Term One, the Year 10s and 11s were both studying realistic theatre and looked at the Australian male in both the country and beach environment and explored the importance of mateship, relationships and decision-making. The Year 10s performed scenes from Blackrock and the Year 11s performed scenes from Eating Ice-cream with your Eyes Closed. The Year 12 cohort studied Absurd Theatre and their scripts present a disillusioned, harsh and stark picture of the world in which repetition of action is used to highlight the purposelessness of some activities. The boys paired up and performed scenes from Waiting for Godot and End Game. Year 10 class completed their semester of Drama study with an improvised performance Scared Scriptless. Based on shows such as Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Thank God You’re Here, the boys improvised scenes spontaneously, combining many aspects of acting such as use of voice, movement, mime, teamwork/ensemble skills, narrative (story telling) and dialogue, characterisation and imagination/creativity. The audience thoroughly enjoyed the night. In Term Three another showcase was held featuring the Years 11 and 12 Drama students. The Year 11s performed scenes from Scattered Lives, which explored the issues surrounding immigration. The Year 12s performed scenes from Bouncers, which challenged the boys as they had to play three different roles, including being a bouncer, a 20-year-old man and a young woman out on the town.

Performing in front of a live audience challenges students to “Step out of their comfort zone”. Both nights proved to be successful with all in the audience entertained, and the boys said they enjoyed performing to family instead of just in class.

YEAR 9 DRAMA

By Mrs C Russell This year the Year 9 Drama class consisted of 30 keen and enthusiastic students. While the class size was, at times, challenging, the boys created and performed some outstanding works of drama including circus, film, collage and a stage play of The Stones.

The Drama course certainly encourages creativity. The skills learnt in Drama this year can be applied to a range of subject areas and will ultimately enhance the boys’ ability to perform in public-speaking presentations and creative-writing tasks. Overall it has been a most enjoyable year with many memorable moments!

THEATRE CREW REPORT

by Zaymon Foulds-Cook

2014 has been an eventful year for the TSS Theatre Crew coordinating and running multiple events throughout the year with successful outcomes. With an influx of new members at the start of the year, the experienced crew members, in conjunction with TSS Old Boy and professional theatre technician Brendan Robinson, conducted crew training sessions in which new crew members learnt core skills and valuable knowledge about many aspects of production including: lighting, sound engineering, theatre management and stage management and the care of theatrical equipment. These training sessions elevated the abilities of the younger crew members and allowed the theatre crew to better perform as a cohesive whole with experienced members acting as mentors. The Theatre Crew received an upgrade in apparel this year with new and improved CREW shirts made out of a suitable black material appropriate for physical stage and technician work where low visibility is essential to blend into the background. Throughout the year the Theatre Crew run all Assemblies, which included setting up lighting, sound and videos at morning tea. The crew was also required to pack up the equipment after each Assembly. They were also in charge of supervising all of the TSS Music concerts and the Drama Showcase Nights. Our presence was well received and the crew members were able to help the music and drama staff with any technical problems of issues that arose on the night. The first major event of the year was the House Drama Festival. House Drama is usually technically difficult due to the many different technical demands of the varying House plays. The Theatre Crew completed a 45-minute session with each House to create and save the requirements for lighting, sound effects and projections as well as keeping track of what props and other stage equipment were required and when on the night. Thanks to the dedicated effort of the Theatre Crew, both nights were professionally executed without incident and all of the Houses were able to perform without any technical dramas.

The Gold Coast Secondary Schools’ Drama Festival was once again hosted at TSS and it was up to the Theatre Crew to perform at their best to ensure that all crew were prepared for three very stressful nights of improvised stage management. The crew also had to perform lighting and sound effects on the fly throughout the 15 live performances as there are no technical rehearsals with the various competing schools prior to the final festival.

Finally, in Term Four the crew supported the Years 7-10 play Stories in the Dark in the Drama Studio.

A special mention must be made to the Assistant Heads of Theatre Crew, Rory Wood and Ehab Herz, as well as the Head of Theatre Crew, Zaymon Foulds-Cook, under the leadership and guidance of Ms Di Francis, for making 2014 one of the most successful years in Theatre Crew’s history, with record numbers of new members.

ALEX KELLEY

Prep Football Coordinator

The changing of the Rugby season to Term Three had a positive impact on Football at Prep. This year we fielded two Year 6 teams and one Year 5 team in the first year of GPS competition for these age groups. Also, for the first time, TSS Preparatory introduced two modified football pitches, enabling the Preparatory School to host home games on the Prep Ovals. This environment enthused the boys and they felt proud to represent both themselves and the School at the venue.

Teams trained on a Wednesday afternoon, and all teams focused on developing the key skills required in football, control, dribble, pass and shoot. Boys were also encouraged to experiment and demonstrate flair. The 5A team, while they were on a steep learning curve, demonstrated great skills for their age and considerable promise for the future. They were involved in some very close games and scored many goals during the season. Dirk Benson was dedicated to giving each boy a positive experience and supported their team play.

It was tough going for the 6B boys for much of the season as they often played against schools with a much bigger pool of players. Even so, they did us proud, always playing with exceptional allegiance to each other. They never gave up, and most importantly, they responded to the strong and always vocal support from their parents on the sideline. They enjoyed the encouragement and skill development provided by Deb Goudy and learnt the importance of passing the ball accurately as the season progressed. It was the always impressive 6A side that carried the TSS flag the highest this season. They won over half of their games and played an exciting brand of football. With defensive players who had the skill to control and pass the ball from the back, they really excited the crowd. The most impressive game was the 3-1 demolition of Churchie, a team previously unbeaten. The 6A team’s dedication to training, as well as to each game, was the key to success. They were impressive on all fronts, especially with their structure in both attack and defence. They have every right to feel very proud about their results.

Some of the Years 5 and 6 players also travelled to Sydney as part of the Sydney Tour representing TSS against Sydney GPS Schools, Scots College, Cranbrook and Knox Grammar. The boys played some great football and were the only TSS side to return to the Gold Coast unbeaten, drawing all three games. The boys were exceptional both on and off the pitch and it was a pleasure and an honour to travel with them.

Year 6 Golden Boot – Michael Ohori 6A Best and Fairest – Liberato Vinaccia 6B Best and Fairest – Lewis Cole Year 5 Golden Boot – Ewan Stanich 5A Best and Fairest – Peter Sophios

Our ‘thank you’ list for this season is headed by our coaches, Deb Goudy and Dirk Benson, while special mention must be made of Joshua McQueen, who provided support when needed as the Director of Football. We also must thank our Prep Football Captain for 2014, Lachlan Goldie, for the way he led by example across the season. He always demonstrated impressive levels of maturity and dedication. Finally, we need to recognise our wonderful TSS support team – the mums and dads, family and friends – the sideline legends that ever-so-faithfully supported our teams throughout the season, win, lose, or draw.