Middle School Drama Performance Heralded a Great Success

This term it has been the turn of a group of Middle School pupils to engage themselves in a School play and present their version of Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman.   The book of Noughts and Crosses is a great favourite with many teenagers and this production aimed to bring its vitality and conflict to the stage.

Following a series of casting sessions, a cast of sixteen performed the play with a team of three supporting the Directors, Helen Coney and Gemma Heald, both members of the Drama department. Playing to packed audiences, the two recent performances were well received by fellow pupils, members of staff and Y9 parents. The two main characters were acted by Year 10 pupils, Alice Tow and Charlie Whitehead who played their parts of Sephy and Callum with great enthusiasm.   There was real commitment in their acting as they portrayed a Romeo and Juliet affair with passion and intelligence.

With minimalistic stage props and clever use of lighting, the tragic story unfolded, with many poignant moments portrayed very sympathetically.  The whole cast demonstrated their maturity concerning the delicate subjects of racism and prejudice portrayed by the story and all in all produced a convincing piece of theatre.  The supporting cast were very strong and were completely focused in every scene as they switched between a number of roles.  The on-stage freezes were particularly effective, allowing the audience to �read� the action of the play visually as well as listening to some excellent vocal projection.

Gemma Heald commented, �The last few weeks have flown by as the cast rehearsed and prepared themselves to bring the story alive. It was a pleasure to co-direct the performance and mention should also be made of the backstage crew, led by Year 9 pupil, Zach Greenway, who admirably took on the role of Stage Manager.�

21st June 2011  Back to News