A night to remember

Last night’s Evening of Entertainment was designed to show off the school’s best performing talent from the Drama department and Music Department, and the audience were not disappointed.

The first play of the evening was performed by our Upper 5th GCSE drama students and was a bloody tale of murder and play ground banter. The play tells the true story of Lizzie Borden, who in 1892 was put on trial for the murder of her father and stepmother. For the actors this play presented them with not only a challenging subject but they also had to deal with the added nerves of being moderated on the night for their final GCSE grade. Their performances were outstanding and as this was their last acting opportunity at the school, they will leave on a high!

The second play was made up of a cast of Lower 4 and Upper 4 students who took on Shakespeare, never an easy option for any actor. Macbeth was the chosen play, and 1920’s Chicago was the setting. An Al Capone- esque Joseph Boronski played Macbeth and Lady Macbeth was brought to life by Kitty Bennett – Gibbon. Again all of the actors provided some mature and memorable performances, but Kitty warrants a special mention for her poignant portrayal of the downfall of Lady Macbeth.

The Open Window, the final of the three plays on the night, took us from tragedy to comedy. Looking at the issue of perceived madness, this play was a great opportunity for our Lower 5th GCSE pupils to try their hand at comedy and what a great job they did! Matthew Howsam, Lucille Golson and Laurence Routledge opened the play and set a precedent with their excellent rapport and brilliant character acting.

It was not just the drama that warranted praise, the standard of the musical acts last night was equally as high. Moving vocal performances were the order of the night, Upper 4th pupil Josh Hassell moved the audience to tears with his version of Michael Buble’s Home. Lucy Conn, Holly Crowter and Charlotte Ellis joined together to sing ‘By My Side’ from the musical ‘Godspell’ with great success.

Congratulations should go to all performers on the night as well as directors Mr. Best, Mr. Wadey and Mr. Bassett and our Director of Music Mr. Stone.