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The Rose & Portcullis Emanuel School Alumni Magazine 2020
SCHOOL NEWS DRAMA The Drama department staged two major productions this year. In Gut Girls, audiences were transported to the gruesome gutting sheds of Deptford and the attempts of Lady Helena to turn the workers into respectable Victorian ladies. It was a phenomenal performance of an incredibly complex text. The school musical, Oliver!, was the culmination of seven months of hard work for over 110 pupils across seven year groups. Whilst the pandemic prevented the usual sell-out audiences attending the production, there was an incredible closed filmed performance just before lockdown and a flash mob display of ‘Oom-Pah-Pah’ and ‘Be Back Soon’ in the Hampden courtyard which helped to raise spirits before the school closure. The department ran a number of trips this year, taking pupils to see The Son at The Duke of York’s Theatre and Trojan Horse at Battersea Arts Centre, in addition to hosting The Paper Birds: Thirsty in the Fiennes Theatre. Sixth Form students visited The Globe Theatre to learn about original performance conditions. After lockdown, the virtual theatre trips club watched some of the amazing productions which have been made during the period of theatre closure and particularly enjoyed A Monster Calls, Small Island and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
