Drama News Pages

Year 8 were working hard in their remote Drama lessons earlier this term, writing and performing monologues to audition for our Junior Play, Emil and Detectives. This will now be presented in the form of radio play episodes at the end of term. 

Director of Drama, Mr Duncan Ellis, took time in Chapel on 10th June to celebrate the terrific achievements of our girls in the last round of LAMDA performance examinations. Across the board, the results were outstanding, with virtually every girl receiving a Distinction.

At the start of February, we saw sterling performances of Nell Gwynn (UVI - Year 13) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (UV -Year 11) in the Delscey Burns Theatre at St Mary's.

On 23rd January, several Drama scholars, ambassadors and members of the Drama Club went to Bristol to see Kneehigh’s Ubu! A Singalong Satire, which is a unique, modern take on Alfred Jarry’s play, Ubu Roi.

For three nights at the end of last Half Term, a terrific senior school cast brought to life the brilliant Richard Bean/ David Arnold musical Made In Dagenham. Based on real events, the plot told of the struggles of Ford female car workers in the 1960s, and the superb songs, plus a sprinkling of slightly saucy gags, made the show go with a real swing.

It's been a busy start to the term in the Drama Department and the Year 12 girls have enjoyed visits to both the Oxford Playhouse to see Malory Towers and the Theatre Royal Bath to see Posh.

On 4th August, six members of the UVI (Year 13) accompanied by their director, Mrs Cochran-Patrick and producer Miss Dickinson arrived in the beautiful city of Edinburgh to perform Mobile Phone Show by Jim Cartwright at Space on the Mile for five days.

Our Fourth Form girls brought the dramatic year at St Mary's to a terrific end, with their full-strength, high energy productions of the junior musical versions of Aladdin (LIV - Year 7) and Beauty and the Beast (MIV - Year 8). Lasting just over an hour each, the scripts cut much of the dialogue from the 'official' versions, but still retained most of the narrative and all of the well-loved characters, so provided a real challenge that all the actors passed with flying colours (and carpets!).

On Thursday 6th June, 11 girls performed in the Summer Term LAMDA Showcase in the Delscey Burns Theatre. The selection of girls ranged from LIV up to LVI (Year 7 to Year 12) who are mostly taking a LAMDA exam later this month.

On 4th June, the LV and LVI (Year 10 and 12) Drama students set off for Hammersmith's Lyric Theatre for the last theatre trip of the school year to see Kneehigh's terrific political play with songs, Dead Dog in a Suitcase.

On 13th May, the MIV (Year 8) and the cast of the school's production of Flesh were treated to a night at the Bristol Hippodrome theatre to see the visually spectacular Matilda. The musical is based upon Roald Dahl's classic children's book, and features original music by Tim Minchin.

On Thursday 2nd May, the Drama students in LV and LVI (Years 10 and 12) performed their devised plays for a small audience. The girls had been working on the pieces for a few months, and the final products were of a brilliant standard.