Drama

Tor Hollidge

Would you be brave enough to spend a night in a spooky house? Well, that’s what our Year 7 students have done; all within the magic bubble of theatre, where we suspend our disbelief, of course.

I have really enjoyed seeing students’ complete engagement during the tour of the old house, eagerly learning about its unsettling history and still bravely accepting the challenge of staying overnight. Creativity has blown the roof off the auditorium.

Not to be outdone, the Year 8 students have immersed themselves in the cyclical drama, “The Terrible Fate of Humpty Dumpty” by David Calcut. An impressive level of empathy has been shown for the victim of bullying and the views and opinions of this subject have been intelligently shared. Our explorations into what makes someone bully others has been eye opening for many.

For our exam students, this year has seen a resurgence of the 80’s and the impact of Thatcher’s Britain through a number of live theatre productions by our GCSE and Post 16 students.

Firstly, our Year 12 BTEC Performing Arts students have toiled away in rehearsal to bring us a fantastic rendition of “Teechers” by John Godber.

Exposing the class divide and its impact on education, “Teechers” seems as relevant today as it did when first staged and our students were able to expose this through the eyes of Salty, Gail and Hobby with great aplomb.

Next up, the Year 10 GCSE drama students have taken on the mantle of responsibility for the annual school production and have been busily rehearsing their set text, Willie Russell’s wonderful “Blood Brothers”.

The students have enjoyed exploring a practical understanding of staging the text as well as an exploration of poverty and the working classes in 80’s Britain from a performance and technical perspective. These productions not only announce the academy’s long awaited return to the stage, albeit in digital form as opposed to live audiences, but the finished products will serve as a useful tools for future drama GCSE drama candidates.

LAMDA candidates have been busy preparing for their exams with Allison Dawson examining for us this year.

LAMDA is a universally recognised performance award, offering candidates the opportunity to prepare for solo, duologue or group exams in mime, devised drama, acting with scripts and more. If your daughter or son would like to know more, please speak to Mrs Hollidge. Bringing us to the end of our year, the Drama department have been fortunate to welcome a number of Theatre Arts professionals to Knole Academy, through the magic of Zoom! Lexie Lambert and Rob Spillet have both graciously shared a wealth of experiences with our Post 16 Performing Arts students, opening our eyes to the rigors and successes of life in the world of a theatre and film.

It’s not all fun and games, but hard work and toil for little reward. However, as Lexie put it; “Acting isn’t just a job, it’s a way of life. It’s not a “normal” life, but I never live the same day twice.”

As we come to the end of our academic year, I am reminded of the power of theatre. Theatre is therapy. Theatre offers an escape, a chance to connect, to feel, to find meaning. At Knole, we have been most fortunate to have brought theatre into the classroom through the year through the Digital Theatre + streaming site. Students in every year group had the opportunity to experience a live theatre production either in the comfort of their own home or in class. For many, it has been their first glimpse into staged drama and I hope it will not be their last.