Design and Technology

With students in Year 12 (Textiles and Design, Design and Technology and Industrial Technology) nearing the completion of their Major Projects, Term 3 is a time to reflect on the quality of work they have produced and celebrate their achievements.

There are several factors required for students to be successful in their project. These include; sound research, creative idea generation, good time management and the skilful application of tools and machines. Another significant factor that does not always come to light is the ability for a student to connect with industry experts. It is a significant step for a student undertaking a project to reach out to others in their community and seek advice on what might be the best way forward. Students who place themselves in a vulnerable position of admitting they need help, also demonstrate they are able to take responsibility and autonomy for their project in seeking information to drive their project forward – not simply relying solely on their teacher. Several of our Senior students have connected with industry experts this year and it has made a significant impact on the success of their projects. Liberty Jacobs in Design and Technology has interviewed physiotherapists and elderly people to clarify their needs for improving mobility. The walking poles she has designed for the elderly incorporates 3D printed suspension technology into the foot of the poles and has been achieved by her working closely with Wojciech Wawrzyniak from Konica Minolta. Nick Heberden in Design and Technology has worked closely with Ben Larsen (Owner of Pedals Plus, Gordon) to better understand the needs of cyclists when riding and the range of bicycle designs that the safety technology he has developed, could be implemented for. The experience and reassurance that Nick has gained has been encouraging from Ben. “It makes perfect sense for you to produce your design as you are combining essentially three products into one, being a camera, a light, and a Varia (a sensor) as long as you are able to get the size and battery life right”. Ben Lam in Industrial Technology is producing a traditional violin and he has worked closely with Raymond Howes, who has produced violins and other strings intruments for over 30 years. This project has taken over a 160 hours to complete and Ben would not have been able to complete such a project without the guidance and mentoring provided to him by Raymond on the multitude of specialised processes required in the carving of spruce, maple and ebony, the testing of resonance and the techniques used for inlaying purfling, producing joints and gluing components using traditional hide adhesive. This is the second student Raymond has mentored – (Rachel Liang – violin, 2018 who went on to study Architecture at Sydney University) being the first. We are extremely grateful to Raymond for the time and wisdom he has imparted to our students.

Darren Woodrow Head of Design & Technology

The central idea of Metamorphoses is change, stemming from the root form ‘Metamorphosis’ being the process of change. As we approached week eight of lockdown, change seems to be something we and our students will have to persevere through. Metamorphoses is a play adapted by Mary Zimmerman from the classic Ovid poem ‘Metamorphoses’ whereby humans ‘ask for the help of the Gods to… change me, help me glimpse the secrets and speak’. It is these Gods who are usually found in Greek Mythology (Zeus, Aphrodite etc) that take pleasure in watching, manipulating and at times inflicting disaster on the humans below to teach them lessons of morality. Through fantastical staging the Gods appear, puppeteering human kind to remind us of the effects of our actions and the rewards that come from living a life of humility and generosity. The final pair show us what it looks like to ‘welcome a stranger’ and the blessing that comes when ‘we see and seek the divine’. Prayers are answered, and mortality is no longer uncertain but an expression of love. I think it is important for our young people to see that morality is not something ‘old fashioned’ but something to learn from now. Bringing these stories to life by the poolside we are reminded that it is not always the powerful, rich or strong that live happy, long lives, but those who are generous, humble and sacrificial in their love for others. My version of Metamorphoses moved it from the ancient world into a modernised flashy resort pool. A version that provided our Barker students with one of the biggest changing challenges, a full body of water on stage for the entire show! Some of the cast members remark on this choice: The idea of having a working pool on stage, combined with the extravagant set and costume completely seemed completely impossible to me. - Ben James I thought the choice to incorporate the water was very brave, but perfect in the end, it was vital to the play and added depth to the story - Emily Whiting These students embraced the challenge and worked as a ‘well-oiled machine’ (Nick Fazl), to ensure the stage was safe, the actors were dried, and the water could be used in multiple ways; to create a storm at sea, moment of drowning, raining water from above in the underworld, or a dinner table with floating candles. Ben James, who played one of the most challenging characters Ceyx; a drowned sailor at sea had the following remark: ‘At first it was definitely a challenge to put my trust in everyone in the ensemble, especially surrounding safety when getting lifted out of the pool, however as the production developed, I could always trust in my peers no matter what. It taught me how to push my boundaries in what I do and the benefits of taking risks creatively’. It certainly was one of the most creatively challenging productions I have ever directed, and I am thankful for Dugal Parker and Andrew Mallam for saying ‘yes’ to all the wacky ideas I had. I can’t say I will ask students to perform in a pool again, but I am certain I couldn’t have done it without such a brave, collaborative and passionate group of students, like the honest Sam Byres who said: Throughout the play I was experiencing my own personal growth, making some rehearsals challenging, however I quickly found rehearsals a safe place to hang out and forget about my day-to-day stresses. Theatre truly has a way of changing us. To the cast and crew of Metamorphoses thank you for so bravely embracing the changes and challenges this year has given us.

Claire Yeomans Director

It was wonderful that before the Delta Variant Lockdown on Term 3 struck, a talented cast of Year 10 students performed one of the most loved pieces in the repertoire of English farce, The Happiest Days of Your Life.

It was a true delight to direct this work and I cherished every moment with the cast and crew of Year 10s, in whose hands the future of Barker Drama is secure. Written and performed first in 1947, this work was translated in 1950 to be one of the most celebrated comedies of British post-war cinema featuring Margaret Rutherford as Miss Whitchurch and Alistair Sim as Mr Pond. The same directors of the 1950 Happiest Days movie later collaborated to create the vastly popular St Trinians series of films. The stage play of Happiest Days by John Dighton provided exhilarating comic relief from the darkness of World War Two and offered the British public the gleeful opportunity to laugh at themselves. The stage genre of “farce” is described in the Cambridge Dictionary as theatre in which characters “become involved in unlikely situations”. In the story of Happiest Days… this is an understatement. With missteps, poor choices and downright bad luck, the characters move from thinly veiled incompetence to downright hysteria, with hilarious results. In classic farce, the only people who know the whole story is the audience! There are cases of mistaken identity, love trysts, duplicitous devices, half-truths and exaggerated characters. The only element lacking, which is a common device by playwrights in this genre, is the appearance of a dead body. Mind you, if the character Mr Billings in this play had his way, a dead body might have been the result of Miss Gossage’s attentions. British farce has established itself in the theatrical traditions. Purists would regard many elements of Shakespearean comedy as “farce” in the sense of mistaken identity and coincidences. More recently, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, The Vicar of Dibley, Black Books and even The Office amongst many others owe something to the tradition of British farce and its offspring. It was a delight to work with Year 10 performers in this production. Entering Senior School brings many challenges and staging a production of this kind was no small achievement. We were all very proud of their accomplishments. To provide more opportunities for performers, our production created alter egos for characters including Gossage, Billings, Rainbow, Barbara and Hopcroft. Our cast did so well with this script that it would be difficult to imagine the story told without the energy and humour these characters added. Our cast has been so creative, bringing the story into a new light at times with a clever modern twist. The constant talents of our Drama production team, particularly Pia Midgley and Dugal Parker, have enabled our students to create a marvellous experience of theatre both for themselves and for you, the audience, who delighted in viewing our work. The title The Happiest Days of Your Life refers, of course, to one’s school days. We had some of our happiest days preparing the work for the audience. The memory of performing to sell out houses was something we will always cherish. Thank you to everyone in our community who made this marvellous memory possible.

Phillip Heath AM Director