Dance & Drama

As we emerged out of a pandemic and returned to School in Michaelmas term to something that resembled normality, the Drama and Dance faculty were hugely excited about being able to work practically again and were determined to make up for lost time. Despite the Michaelmas term being slightly challenging, we continued to be creatively innovative and were thrilled to see the return of House Drama. It was particularly inspiring to see the whole School community come together and work creatively with such resilience and determination.

A highlight of the term was the annual Scholars’ dinner, which was our first opportunity to come together as a Drama community and celebrate the talent of our pupils. Miss Donnelly transformed the PAC into a magical woodland and the audience was delighted to watch performances from our scholars from A Midsummers Night's Dream. We were also treated to our first Christmas Dance Showcase, which took us on a magical journey into the world of The Nutcracker. This was a highly imaginative piece of Dance and really showcased the extra-ordinary talents of the dancers at Downe House. It was inspiring to see such an array of dance styles throughout the performance and audiences were amazed to even find snow falling from the ceiling of the PAC. It was the perfect end to the Michaelmas term and once again, I was struck by the passion and enthusiasm the girls have for Drama and Dance.

At the beginning of the Lent term, we were joined by our new Musical Theatre Director in Residence, Mr Rob Castell, who arrived just in time for the first UV and UVI musical ABBA: The Party! This immersive musical showcase whisked audiences to a Greek taverna where they were treated to an array of ABBA’s greatest hits. It was a real joy to see our fantastic cast having the time of their lives on stage and to see the audiences on their feet at the end of each performance. The Lent term was a term of firsts as we were also treated to ‘So You Think You Can Move’, a culmination of the formally known House Gymnastics and Dance. The event was a huge success, and the Farr Centre was simply electric after every performance.

93% grade 8-9. We are, of course, thrilled with these results and believe they are a true indication of how hard the girls have worked.

The Speech and Drama department has continued to go from strength to strength this year and despite the disruption, the girls were still able to achieve excellent results. We have seen a huge number of girls receiving distinction grades and have been thrilled to see 100% success rate in all the RADA examinations. A huge thank you to Mrs Watson and the Speech and Drama team for facilitating this.

The creative pinnacle of this year was Founder’s Weekend where we saw fantastic performances from across the faculty. The Dance department created an excellent piece called ‘Moving Memories’ which documented the School’s history on its centenary year. The LV and LVI embarked on a dark and experimental reimagining of Lord of the Flies and transported audiences into a chaotic and disturbing world. Parents, pupils and staff were also treated to an extra-ordinary Lower School production of The Lion King which left audiences amazed, not just by the talent, but also the sheer beauty of the production. It was fantastic to see pupils not only performing on stage but also running the backstage area too! The show was a roaring success and everyone involved should be immensely proud of their achievements.

The staff at Downe House are an amazingly inspiring collective and somehow the pupils are even more so. I would like to congratulate everyone on all the fantastic events this year and to thank the AV team for their unwavering support throughout the academic year!

Mrs Kirsty Richardson – Director of Drama and Dance

Pupils have excelled in the sphere of academic Drama this year and it has been a delight to see a full range of both devised and scripted practical pieces from our GCSE and A Level pupils. During the Michaelmas term we were treated to a range of extracts by the UV from the classic, Medea, to the more abstract Changing Room. The LVI created a thoughtprovoking devised piece based upon refugees using Paper Birds as their practitioner. The pinnacle of the academic performances this year was the UVI scripted performance of Mine by Polly Teale, which was performed in the style of Frantic Assembly. The quality of the practical work has been reflected in our exam results this year with our A Level class receiving 100% A*-A grades and our GCSE pupils received

Drama Practical Examination

In LV Drama, we spent the academic year preparing for our upcoming GCSE devised exam. In the Michaelmas term, my class was split into two groups and given different stimuli to choose from. My group discussed potential ideas and themes which could come from each stimulus, and once we had established our dramatic intentions for our piece, we chose our stimuli. Mrs Wood, our Drama teacher, advised us to take a practical approach to devising our plan and encouraged us to perform lots of different scenes to discover which dramatic techniques and dialogues worked best for our storyline. In my devised performance there were four stand-alone characters. Each of us in the group spent time constructing our characters individually, in order to create depth to our characters. In our performance, Hidden Truths, each of our characters explored different debilitating mental illnesses which were kept secret. My character struggled with anxiety, and I focused on representing this through physical drama and creating soundscapes. I enjoyed collaborating with my group because it allowed us to express creative ideas. Throughout the devising process I learnt that trial and error is sometimes the best way to discover your creative potential.

Hope Black (LV)

On Thursday 12 May, we performed our Drama devised piece, Survival and not living, which was part of our coursework for our A Level Drama course. This piece was wholly created and devised by us. We started this process in Michaelmas term, we chose the novel, The Lonely Londoners by Samuel Selvon as our stimuli. This post-colonisation literature follows the daily lives of ‘The Windrush generation’ as they try to adapt to the British lifestyle. We as a group wanted to build our piece from this and explore further the prejudice and stigma surrounding immigrants settling in Britain. We each wanted to tell the hidden stories of these wronged people, so we all choose characters from different backgrounds and timings to show this repetition and failure over the course of history. To make this piece more impactful, we wanted a practitioner that was well-versed in Verbatim, to provide a truthful representation of these important stories of suffering and pain. We decided on Paper Birds, drawing inspiration from their performance, A Thousand Pieces. Overall, it was an amazing experience to collaborate on a subject that we felt passionate about and explore it in a creative way, so we could deliver our message to the audience.

Thea Davies (LVI)

On Tuesday 22 March, our group of six performed our A Level Drama Scripted Production of an abridged version of Mine by Polly Teale. This piece is a Psychological Drama that explores the pros and cons of adoption. We applied the Frantic Assembly style which involves using a combination of naturalistic acting with abstract movement in order to aid the feeling and meaning of more difficult concepts. A large part of this was using ‘The Child’ played by Yasmine McLennan (UVI) to reflect feelings of abandonment, which largely impacted our piece. Lyla Elichaoff (UVI) played ‘Rose’ the biological mother who had her child forced from her hands as she was deemed an ‘unfit mother’ due to her troubled upbringing. A key feature of the piece was exploring motherdaughter relationships which was shown between ‘Woman’, the adoptive mother played by Alice Pernthaller (UVI) and ‘Mother’, played by me, Marina Pownall (UVI). There were also more comedic moments shown through ‘Sister’ the adoptive mother’s sister played by Alethea Ings-Chambers (UVI) as well as some more poignant ones shown through the dismantling of ‘Man’ played by Morgan Wallace (UVI), the role of the adoptive father and his marriage with ‘Woman.’ This therefore made the audience question whether ‘The Child’ was better off with the wealthy, yet disjointed adoptive couple or the struggling, loving biological mother.

Back in September 2021, the return to a full timetable of live and in person Speech and Drama, Musical Theatre and Communication Skills lessons was welcomed by staff and students alike. Conducting our inescapably practical subject online was a challenge, but one we rose to during the pandemic and subsequent School closures. However, having pupils and teachers sharing the same space, collaborating creatively is what our lessons are all about and it was so exciting to be able to fully enjoy this part of the process again. Our Upper School and Sixth Form RADA students hit the ground running with their first exams scheduled for November. The RADA Shakespeare Awards are a great opportunity for our older students to expand upon their love for Shakespeare’s work by practically exploring some of his more obscure texts, either as a solo or duo candidate. During the assessment, pupils work with RADA tutors and alumnae - it is always a highlight of our year. I am delighted that all candidates entered received the award and special mention must go to Elfreda Harvey (LVI) and Ziqi (Jade) Fang (LVI), who not only achieved their Bronze Awards last year, but also their Silver Awards as well!

The Trinity exams took place in four stages last year and everyone worked exceptionally well as they made the transition back to ‘normal’ exams. During the pandemic, it was necessary to move all pupils onto the digital exam option. This meant that everyone worked as a soloist and all material was recorded, instead of being presented live. This year we were delighted to welcome live examiners back into School and have the chance to present work as pairs and groups. After such turbulent recent experiences, the pupils are to be commended on their excellent results this year. Our Lower School and Upper Fourth groups achieved astronomically high results and deserve a standing ovation. There are too many pupils to mention, but if you cast your eyes over the published results, you will see many overall marks of 90 and above, which is an incredible achievement. Upper School and Sixth Form also performed extremely well in their various exams, with many personal triumphs and very pleasing outcomes. Keren Feng (LV) impressed with her “articulate and creative” presentation for her Grade 5 Communication Skills exam, achieving a fantastic 89/100. Melissa Hulse (UV) managed to gain distinctions in her Grade 6 and Grade 7 Musical Theatre exams. Agnes Rose (LVI) achieved an outstanding 95/100 for her Grade 7 Acting Solo exam, the examiner commended Agnes for her “convincing and truthful” programme of monologues.

Congratulations to all our pupils for such a wonderful year. We are so proud of everything that you have achieved.

Mrs Rebecca Watson, Head of Extra-Curricular Drama

The Grade 5 Communication Skills exam is a great opportunity to showcase your development in conveying causes and arguments in two different aspects: a presentation task and a delivered news story in either a TV, radio or podcast format. For me, the exam was a chance to showcase the skills I have learnt throughout the year, speaking about something that I am passionate about and have an interest in, along with research and preparation guided by our teachers. We had three parts to the exam, a prepared presentation task about a charity which is significant to you, the second part was a prepared news story. For me I enjoyed the first presentation task the most, I enjoyed the presentation research about my chosen charity which was UK Save The Whales; it gave me and many others a chance to express why these charities are so important to us.

The second task was a spoken account of a news story, I chose a medical news story in a podcast format, which was the most popular as it is such a contrast to the presentation. The third task was to answer unprepared questions about the two proceeding tasks themselves or the process of research and presentation development of the tasks. Personally I found this the most difficult, however the conversational format was much more favourable. Overall, I learnt a lot from both the preparation experience and the exam itself; it is a great opportunity to improve not just presentation skills but conversation and improvisational skills as well.

Maya Gazzard (LV)

I started Musical Theatre lessons for the first time at the beginning of the Michaelmas term. To begin with, I wasn’t happy with my song choices, and I would constantly change my mind. Overall, I was quite nervous knowing the outcome of the lessons would be my first Musical Theatre exam. However, after meeting Mr Castell for the first time, I was put at ease immediately. We quickly got started, finding three perfect songs. Over the course of a few weeks, we decided on: ‘All That Jazz’ from Chicago, ‘Wouldn’t it be lovely’ from My Fair Lady and ‘She Used To Be Mine’ from Waitress However, after much deliberation, Mr Castell and I decided to scrap ‘She Used To Be Mine’, due to a key change that I was finding particularly difficult and instead settled for ‘You’ll Be Back’ from Hamilton. After a lot of practice, I confidently walked into the exam room. Although I left feeling unsure of myself, I know for certain that I would not have been able to receive a high distinction without Mr Castell being with me every step of the way, I would recommend Musical Theatre to anybody, even if you are uncertain of your ability, as its not only lots of fun but also an amazing confidence boost.

Sophie Carter (LV)

Live Theatre Viewing Of Peter Pan

On 1 March 2022, I watched the production of the National Theatre’s adaptation of Peter Pan. I found the play very enjoyable to watch. Throughout the play there was lots of different elements and techniques which made it very interesting. The themes that were explored throughout the play were motherhood, fantasy, magic and childhood vs adulthood. The play was centred around the juxtaposition between the innocence of childhood and responsibility of adulthood. Fantasy and magic were also key parts of the performance, as to enable the children to fly they must have a great imagination which is lacking in adulthood, having a vivid imagination allows the children to be able to fly because of their innocence. Another theme that was explored was motherhood and family. The Lost Boys are desperate to have a mother figure in their lives, to tell them stories and to comfort them.

At the very beginning of the play, there is a monologue from Wendy as a grown adult in the present. The monologue flashes back to when she was a child and the actor seamlessly removes her dressing gown, which represents her as being an adult, and becomes child Wendy. All the children in the play were acted by adults. This did annoy me a bit, as I think the actors over exaggerated their movements to show that they were children. Wendy had a very whiny voice, which made it seem less realistic to me as she was playing a 12-year-old girl and from my experiences, a 12-year-old girl would be a lot more mature. Whereas, I liked how Michael’s actor played the young boy with hunched over shoulders to portray being shy, he also had a whiny voice, but this helped to develop and establish his character as a very young boy. Michael’s high-pitched voice is a direct contrast to an adult voice, which is one of the key themes explored in Peter Pan – childhood vs adulthood. The father played his character as a manchild, which I think symbolises that every adult still has childlike attitudes, and it was also very funny for the younger members of the audience. John played his middle-child character as being boastful and a show off. Peter Pan was played by a man, and I thought that this added something different to the play as Peter Pan is supposed to be an adult and the actor being an adult made me remember that he is a man in the story as well. The Lost Boys actors also played the pirates. This meant in the fight scene between the Lost Boys and pirates, the actors would play one group of characters and fight themselves. They would then emerge from the pirate ship and turn into the Lost Boys.

The set design, music and lights added to the performance even more. To create Peter Pan’s shadow, they used a green piece of material cut into the shape of a person and had background actors take hold of the material, make noises and move the fabric. It was very well done and added to the magic of the performance. Flying throughout the performance was achieved by the characters referring to ‘fairy string’, this was a rope that was attached to the actor that lifted them by a background actor climbing up and down a ladder. Seeing the rope could have ruined the magic but, as an audience member, I found it fascinating. Neverland is where we are introduced to the Lost Boys. The set design was messy and there was paint on the walls and floor, which is the opposite to what it would look like if an adult was looking after them. The lights reflected the mood of the piece. For example, when the lights turned red this showed connotations of danger, such as when Captain Hook captures the Lost Boys, Wendy, John and Michael.

Overall, the adaptation had many techniques that I found inspiring, and I was eager to implement these different acting skills into my own performance. The play had lots of things that I liked and disliked about it. I was pleased that the Lost Boys all had and maintained individual personalities throughout the production, as these could have been similar because they had similar backgrounds. The adaption ended with Wendy as an adult again, which finalised the performance well.

It is so fantastic to be treated to a live performance from our scholars. I would like to congratulate them all on what they achieved this evening, Shakespeare isn’t easy and so tonight has been a real achievement. I would like to say a huge thank you to the AV and catering team who have made this evening look and taste fantastic. I would also like to thank Mrs O’Sullivan, who has coached the girls through their performance and Miss Donnelly, who despite only joining us in September has made the PAC look spectacular.

I think it is fair to say that the past 18 months have been challenging for the world of Theatre and for the Drama and Dance Faculty at Downe House. We have all had to give up the things we love and really had to evaluate what is a luxury and what is a necessity. As we sit here today, at an event, which feels like everything is almost normal, I want to talk to our Drama Scholars about giving yourself permission to be creative and to remind you what an incredibly important element creativity can be to making your future a successful one.

I think I am right in saying that most people don’t spend their lives thinking about music, theatre or drama, because they have busy lives and simply accept it as being something that is ‘just there’… that is, until something happens – it might be that you are getting married, or planning a funeral or maybe you are feeling a bit sad – suddenly you find yourself reaching for a piece of music or a piece of theatre to try and make sense of how you are feeling. What I want to ask you all is: ‘At that moment is creativity a luxury or is it emotional sustenance?’ if it makes us feel better or somehow feeds our soul during a time of need - is it luxurious?

Another important question we should ask ourselves is, ‘Are we aiming to survive or thrive – can we truly thrive without creativity? Can you find out what you love without being creative in some way?’ When people find out that I am a teacher of Drama and Dance they almost always immediately launch into an experience of theatre they had when they were younger – in fact my husband Jake quite regularly recites his lines from when he played ‘Dandy Dan’ in Bugsy Malone in primary school, which is quite spectacular given how bad his memory is. My point is that almost everyone speaks fondly of their experience, and I think it is because they are reminiscing on a time when they were being creative and expressing themselves.

There can be a danger when we are discussing creativity that it is seen as something ‘nice’, something warm or pleasant – but really it is so much more than that. I truly believe the creative skills you are currently learning in your Drama lessons and during your rehearsals will positively shape our future.

When starting PGCE I started an intellectual love affair with Sir Ken

Robinson. In one of his TED Talks he discusses creativity in schools and how well we as educators are preparing our pupils for the future. When I was listening to one of his talks it got me thinking about my own son, Barney. He was born on Christmas day 2020, which means when he leaves school it will be 2038. When I think about how much has changed over the past two years in terms of how we live our lives it is hard to imagine what life will be like in five years, never mind 18 years. I wonder how he will cope when adapting to the ever-changing landscape of life and what the future will hold for him. I realised that there isn’t anything we can do about this unpredictability, but what we can do is ensure we are encouraging our children and pupils to be adaptable, to ensure they understand the full value of their creativity and to have the confidence to be the innovators of the future. This is why Drama is so important - you are free to make choices, to discuss taboo subjects, to take a project in any direction you chose. You are encouraged to tell a story from multiple perspectives, to be original and create something never seen before. Not only are you doing this, but you are doing it alongside other people – you are having to work together to conceive something that is new, fresh and exciting. Your Drama lessons are an opportunity to hone your creative and collaborative skills into something that is really valuable.

So, Drama Scholars, my message to you is this: don’t just give yourself permission to be creative, really seek it out and use the skills you develop in Drama to help change our world for the better.

Mrs Kirsty Richardson, Director of Drama and Dance