Student Speak Summer 2011

wine!’isiswhat whatpeople peoplemay mayhave havebeen been ‘Christmas time, mistletoe and wine!’ saying on their way into last term’s Christmas production of C S Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (or, as the French say ‘La pomme, le chat et le cygne’). This is because it was Christmas. Also because Cliff Richard is great! Don’t you just love him? If you don’t, you may as well stop reading right now!

The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe was written in 1276 and, despite its blatant religious imagery and symbolism, it’s a play that can be enjoyed by all audiences. A story of four young ragamuffins caught up in adventures where they have to fight in wars and kill defenceless animals in cold blood. Well, not cold blood. War. Against a witch. The witch can also turn people to stone. By magic. Crazy.

The UCC production of the above play was nothing short of really good. Audience members described it as “great” and one person even went so far as to say it was “superb”. The performance was performed as a performance in the round, a decision which almost had drama teacher Miss Shreeve burned as a witch. Religious radicals argued that “If God wanted us to perform theatre in the round, he’d have given us round eyes. This play will be destroyed in thunder and lightning.” They were wrong - dead wrong – and, despite these concerns, the decision to perform in the round was ultimately one which paid off. Big time.

All of the students involved made a wonderful contribution to the performance. The costumes were fantastic, and that of the White Witch was especially striking. Some described Peter’s shorts as “the best thing they’d ever seen” and Mr Pattinson even hinted that he’d like to include them in the school uniform. The lighting of the show was, as always, superb and one audience member was heard to say “It’s like being in the forest. Wow. I love the forest! It’s so great. Who did this lighting?” The answer to their question was John Summers with the help of some trusty students.

All in all, the production went down a treat, and so, to all the cast I say, in the wise words of Cliff Richard: “Congratulations and celebrations.” Written down, that lyric doesn’t really make any sense, does it?

Stupid Cliff Richard.