Drama

Shrek: the Musical!

A massive 1,700 people saw our autumn production of Shrek: the Musical, our first fullscale, in-person musical production since 2019.

Head of Drama Productions Mr Chris Chambers is never one to shy away from an ambitious production, and ambitious indeed was the autumn term production of Shrek. The show is a celebration of togetherness, unity and individual difference. It proved incredibly popular, and the run included a special performance for local primary school students who were wowed by the intricate costumes and complex set design (yes, there was a lifesize horse for Lord Farquad’s entrance).

Leading the cast were the brilliant Eliza Farrar and Anna Brovko as Fiona, and Ethan Thorne and Barney Sayburn as Shrek. They had some powerful moments, ably balancing the comedic scenes with the more heartfelt and emotive ones, and negotiated the challenge of fat suits, green face paint and rapid costume changes with ease. Ashvin Jeyanandan and Matteo Di Lorenzo joined them as the wonderfully hilarious Donkey and Lord Farquad. They had costume challenges of their own in the form of an enormously hairy donkey-suit, and shoes attached to kneepads for the entirety of the three-hour show. Other stand out performances include Phoebe Nichols’ phenomenal solo as Gingey, Jonah Newlands’ beautiful tweeting as the explosive (or should that be exploding?) bluebird and Pinocchio, and Robert Green and Kiaro King as Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee. To the 70 students in the cast, 24 in the orchestra and 15 backstage, congratulations: it was a joy to see a whole school production back on the Trinity stage. Ms Lucy Robinson

Hell hath no fury…

Trinity School’s production of Euripedes’ Medea was a fearful and tragic exploration of heartbreak, alienation and revenge.

I saw both the first and final nights of the school’s production of Medea, and I thought it was fantastic. There were brilliant performances from cast members including Phoebe Nichols, Hugh Bishop and Alice Febles. Phoebe’s Medea made me question all my initial thoughts. At first, she comes across as the oppressed protagonist who had been controlled by her exhusband, but gradually feelings of unease seep in, and you begin to think that perhaps she has been in control the whole time.

One character who managed to keep the tension flowing was the Nurse, played by Alice, who acted as the play’s narrator through use of lengthy monologues such as the one at the opening. I thought the modernised version worked well, as it didn’t specifically date when the play is set, but still referred to the classical themes, enabling us to see it was still grounded in Greek mythology. The use of light and sound powerfully set the tone of the play, designed by Mr Dave Burn who was assisted by Ethan Campbell and Chris Legge. Mr Matt Adams’ phenomenal set design added a huge amount of atmosphere. I thought the tense and mystical mood was portrayed fantastically, both through the technical ideas and through the performances of the actors themselves. Congratulations to Ms Lucy Robinson and the entire cast and crew for putting on a wonderful production. Alexander Molony, Fourth Year

The role of the Chorus

The Chorus is really important in the play: they are the women of Corinth who surround Medea during her plight. They represent the way in which the public views Medea, both positively and negatively. This is why we gave the various Chorus members different opinions and relationships to Medea, to better reflect the variety of perspectives. The Chorus are also the people who discourage Medea from killing her children, and act as tragic foreboders in the play. At the end of it when Medea’s tragic fate unfurls, the Chorus sympathise with her and feel both her and Jason’s pain.

A clear sense of unity was definitely evident, reflected through the prominent use of grey in all of the Chorus’ costumes. However, the style and type of all of our costumes were different. This gave our characters the freedom to develop our own personalities and expressions. For example, my character had a grey work dress with a smart blazer to represent her snobby attitude and judgement towards the less conventional Medea. Anna Brovko, Lower Sixth

Drama at work Acting out

Drama students have learned to stage-fight and improvise, as well as gaining expertise for GCSE work through the guidance of outside practitioner workshops.

In January, Fourth Year Drama students were joined by Annie from The Stanislavski Experience who led them in a workshop on Physical Theatre and Brecht. Students then chose to emulate a practitioner’s style for their devised exam, a practical performance which comprises 40 percent of their GCSE. In March, Drama scholars of a range of ages were taught to stage fight by Mark from Squire Stage Combat. The stage combat workshop started with students working in pairs to choreograph short fight scenes comprising of slaps, punches, kicks and some hair-pulling for good measure. This then built up to rehearsals using bokken (wooden Japanese swords) which helped students hone their balance, coordination and timing skills. The same students also learned about comedy and improvisation from Toby from South Side Theatre. They worked in small groups to create characters, considering age, demeanour and personality; the more exaggerated the better. The workshop culminated in a whole class improvisation in which students transposed their characters to an airport waiting room with hilarious results. Ms Lucy Robinson

The magic of theatre

After years of engaging with live performance only through streamed and online versions, it has been an utter joy to take students to the theatre again.

Our Sixth Form students have seen productions ranging from the intimate two-hander Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act at the Orange Tree Theatre in September, to the sprawling, immersive recreation of the fall of Troy in Punchdrunk’s Burnt City at the start of the summer term. They also saw The Seven Pomegranate Seeds and A Number at the Rose Theatre and Old Vic respectively, two powerful plays dealing with themes of loss, grief and familial obligation. GCSE students have seen brilliant productions of The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Book of Dust and, most recently, To Kill a Mockingbird starring Rafe Spall. Although primarily used to contribute to the written element of the GCSE, the impact these shows have had on the creativity and ingenuity in students’ practical work has been staggering. Third Year students went to the eerie Fortune Theatre to watch The Woman in Black, and Drama scholars of all ages have seen Life of Pi and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time in the West End. Ms Lucy Robinson

The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) acting exams have allowed many individual students to shine in drama performances.

Second Year Tomi Waters achieved an excellent 95 percent in his first examination, approaching his own acting with a keen directing eye. Third Year Adil Patel explored his own methodologies to connect with characters and situations. Fourth Year Finn Evans’ nuanced script work and Fourth Year Ethan Thorne’s mature practical work culminated in a spine-tingling power-struggle in their duologue. In our acting classes we are ultimately developing scripts for performance, along with supporting statements showing the research and development to produce them. Emotional intelligence enable each student to recognise the power of performance, and they revel in the opportunity to showcase their skills.

In the “Communications” course, students are also required to develop vocal and physical skills to communicate; but in place of theatrical scripts, they share extracts from books and poems within a recital structure. Extracts are taken both from a set list, but also from students’ own reading. Successes this year have included Anay Tanna’s revulsion for Professor Snape and Rishi John’s sympathy towards those who aren’t always celebrated in his sensitive reading of The Disappointed.

Examinations are taken at LAMDA’s central London base. This year we have celebrated not only exceptional results, but also the personal development of each of our students.

Ms Tamsin Reeve

An ancient dilemma

Meeting the playwright

David Wood OBE’s moving environmentalist children’s play The See-Saw Tree was performed in Trinity’s grounds in late June by a cast of 40 Lower School students.

The play deals with the question of whether a 300-year-old oak tree should be cut down to build a children’s playground, from the perspective of both the humans in the area and the animals who live in the tree.

From the co-director:

In Drama lessons I often have a lot of ideas about how to organize and perform group work. I told Mr Chambers I was interested in doing some directing work outside of class and he asked if I wanted to help direct The See-Saw Tree. I definitely was! The biggest challenge with directing this play was getting everyone familiar with the story and allowing the actors to become really confident with their characters’ personalities. This involved creating different emotions for characters that were doubled for our cast from the original script, such as the bats. Once the actors had developed their characters, then I could help with the acting. The main message I was trying to convey was how much the animals cared for each other and wanted to help each other. I wanted to show how much they wanted to stop the chainsaw people from destroying their home. I also really wanted to show the fear of such a thing happening to the animals, and the courage it takes to face that fear. James Bradburn, Second Year

Students were excited to meet and chat with David Wood OBE about his play. Though he is well-known as an adapter of children’s books for the stage, including eight of Roald Dahl’s classics, The See-Saw Tree is an original story. David met the cast during rehearsals in May, and talked energetically about his career and tips on acting and playwriting. He discussed wider themes, such as the purpose of theatre and the changes in the approach to writing for children over the last fifty years. He also led a conversation on environmentalism and how, though this play was written in 1987, the themes it covers are still so relevant today. As his play was written initially for a cast of eight actors, he was intrigued by the idea of our attempts to increase the cast to include 40 students from Junior to Second Year, and planned to come and see the production. The choice to produce The See-Saw Tree has coincided with the release of a new hardback storybook of the play, with illustrations by Joanna Padfield, which some members of the cast were pleased to have signed by David. Ms Lucy Robinson