Drama A Fond Farewell
A
s you may or may not know sadly Miss Capon is leaving us this year after over 20 years at Reading School. Of course within her roles in PSHE and as assistant headteacher she has positively affected all of our lives yet she has no doubt left the biggest impact on the students who take drama, guiding us through a course that the government has found a hobby in altering and forming great relationships with all of us along the way. With this in mind in an attempt to commemorate her time at Reading School I have collected the current ALevel students’ favourite Miss Capon memories.
The Y12s after their final showcase performance with the Drama team (from left to right: Jamie Cottle, Miss Barallon, Ms Fooks, Miss Capon, Sean Laing, Joe Hicks, Bryn VerityLegg and Tommy Allwright) Sean Laing remembers one rehearsal in particular for mine and his production of 1984 – a thrilling scene of torture testing the strength of the human mind. At least that was our intention when in reality the first run-throughs were more torturous for the audience than our onstage victim. Somehow we managed to make teeth drilling; hand smashing and mental manipulation “mind numbingly boring” and this culminated in one of Miss Capon’s best moments of interrupting our scene mid-torture to ask “how long has it got left?” Miss Capon then called the performance soporific which upon a quick Google revealed to mean sleep inducing usually in
conjunction with drugs. Harsh, hilarious and highly accurate with Miss Capon’s and Mrs Fooks’ expert assistance the scene was ready in time for exams, this time with the audience on the edge of their seats rather than snoozing on them.
“I’ll get you back Miss Capon!” Joe Hicks’ favourite memory takes place on one of the many long open evenings in which we usually played drama games into what felt like the early hours of the morning. In one game called ‘Holy Father’ we would admit improvised sins (like wearing socks and sandals) to a Holy Father and do as they command without laughing. Miss Capon admitted to seeing another member of the brotherhood sing Madonna and when questioned what song she replied “like a virgin”. It was at this moment that a gaggle of prospective students and parents walked in to the drama studio and Miss Capon still in character was asked by the Holy Father to demonstrate by singing the chorus. Realising the content of chorus what proceeded was a hilarious attempt to get out of singing it and still appease the Holy Father which in the end was only resolved by a vogue off between me and Sean. Tommy Allwright wanted to remember how generous Miss Capon was throughout GCSEs and A-level not only by offering to give up her time for additional rehearsals but also in moments like getting cupcakes made for us with each of our names on them for helping out with open evening. Tommy especially remembers how generous Miss Capon was with her time in rehearsal of ‘Mean Streets’ his year 10 devised piece and Tommy would like to apologise for “putting you through that final dance sequence repeatedly.” One of Bryn’s favourite Miss Capon
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memories were the discussions held with her towards the end of the first term when Bryn was considering dropping the subject. Bryn remembers how supportive Miss Capon was, as is indicative of her character, but would also like to thank her for restoring his passion for theatre studies as he’s extremely glad he is still a part of the A-level team. I have countless heart warming memories of Miss Capon including secret Santa and her ongoing support of the student led LGBTQ+ support group yet my favourite memory has to be the way she revealed my GCSE results. Miss Capon and Mrs Fooks were seeing all of us one by one in their office to reveal our practical marks and when I walked into find my two teachers downcast I was terrified. They continued to reveal a sub-par mark with such dramatic skill that I truly felt I had failed the subject. Only after consoling me did Mrs Fooks blurt out “I feel bad” and Miss Capon revealed my full marks whilst descending into wicked laughter. I now must admit that I too would’ve found my unnecessarily worried face funny but my immediate response was a mixture of extreme relief and “I’ll get you back Miss Capon!” I do hope this published collection of embarrassing memories suffices as comeuppance.
The performers enjoy the applause Joking aside, the A-Level team and I would like to thank you so much for the support, passion and expertise you have brought to the subject over the years and the joy you have instilled in each of our lives. Thank you and good luck, Miss Capon! Jamie Cottle, 12AL