Drama

Throughout their studies, our Sixth Form pupils are required to see a wide range of theatre to analyse in written exams, and as inspiration for creating their own original performances. In September, after two years away, GCSE Drama and Sixth Form pupils travelled to The Globe to enjoy ‘Twelfth Night.’ This festive afternoon set the tone for what promised to be the best year yet for Drama at King Edward’s, with new staff, new facilities and increasing numbers of talented and dedicated pupils. In October, our Drama Scholars and the 4th Form GCSE Drama class performed ‘Cookies’ during an evening designed to showcase the emerging talents of our pupils. This event also served as an opportunity for the department to introduce their new Drama and Dance teacher Mrs Emma Ryman who skilfully created an excellent adaptation of the play. Mrs Ryman is a former professional dancer and looks forward to guiding pupils who have a keen interest in dance and enhancing the dance numbers in future productions.

Drama Graduate Assistant, Miss Susie MacDonald who is a professional Theatre Director, directed our in-house production of ‘Twelfth Night.’ Miss MacDonald’s adaptation set the scene at Duke Orsino’s music festival in Illyria which highlighted a pupil-led live band, which quickly created a ‘gig-theatre’ vibe. The cast were excellent, and the production received raving reviews. The Spring Term began with our first professional theatre project based on a new play called ‘Other Guys,’ a verbatim play, written by Shireen Mula (National Theatre), which explores attitudes to masculinity and what it means to be a man in the 21st century. The cast included six talented actors from our 1st - 3rd Forms who worked alongside the Playwright and professional Theatre Director Jesse Jones (The Wardrobe Ensemble) to develop the play for their performance at Rich Mix. The young actors rehearsed for many hours on weekends with 6 professional adult actors, which provided a chance to learn about the industry and some tricks of the trade. The boys headed to London early on the day of the performance for dress and technical rehearsals before their hour-long piece and for parents, staff and industry professionals to include Producers and Directors from several London theatres. The team hopes the show will be commissioned and developed further in future. The Director of Drama was asked to put forward individuals for a casting call for a movie called ‘Club Zero;’ several of our young actors progressed beyond the first round of auditions and one of our scholars was invited to face to face casting call and audition. Our talent is being recognised beyond Witley!

We were pleased to be able to bring the much-loved classic ‘Bugsy Malone’ back this year to the delight of staff, parents, Old Witleians and local Prep Schools. We introduced a pupil-led theatre production whereby an aspiring Directors proposed their ideas for a show. The successful pupilDirector was provided with a mentor, a budget, and a technical crew, conducts auditions and rehearsals before performing the show to a live audience in the KESW Studio Theatre. Azariah, a Lower Sixth pupil produced and directed ‘Who Cares?,’ a thought provoking and powerful play. And whilst the year had many successes, perhaps the biggest triumph was our cross-department production ‘Finding Mat Finderling’ about which you can read about further on page 12.

Next year we look forward to collaborating with more professional theatre makers, starting with our production of ‘Hadestown’ in November 2022. This musical earned several Tony and Grammy awards and will be directed by our professional Director in Residence supported by a pupil band and cast of talented pupils.