DRAMA

From Wednesday 1st to Friday 3rd March, our senior LAMDA examinations took place for 39 students in Upper Fifth and Lower Sixth. During these examinations, the students performed their repertoire of pieces and answered a variety of questions from the visiting examiners for their Grade 6, 7 and 8 examinations. On Thursday 2nd March, we welcomed family, friends, staff, and students to enjoy examples of their work. We hosted two performance showcases; one for Lower Fifth students to perform their work for a supportive audience, followed by a second showcase for Lower Sixth students to perform their Grade 8 work. The standard of the performances was truly impressive and the range of pieces was extremely varied in terms of theme, era, and style. The evening really took the audience on a rollercoaster of emotions! The results were outstanding, with most of our students receiving Merit and Distinction level medals. I would like to extend my thanks to the fantastic LAMDA teachers at Withington; Ms Radcliffe, Ms Lavell, Ms Guest and Ms Paul for their incredible support, guidance and willingness always to go the extra mile. This marks the end of the Lower Sixth’s LAMDA journey at Withington. We are truly proud of all that they have achieved. Well done to all!

We are thrilled to have secured 70 tickets for the forthcoming tour of the multi award-winning musical, Hamilton. We will offer tickets to students studying GCSE and A Level Drama, Politics, and Music and the remainder will be sold on a first come, first serve basis. Hamilton is touring the UK for the very first time, opening in Manchester for a 15 week season.

It is indisputably one of the most brilliant, ground-breaking, contemporary musicals of modern times.

Hamilton is the story of America then, told by America now, relaying the story of one of America’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton. It features a score that blends hip-hop, R&B, jazz, and classic Broadway music. We are so excited for February 2024!

We invited staff and family and friends of our A Level and GCSE Drama students to enjoy their scripted examination performances in the Drama Studio on Thursday 23rd March. This was a delightful evening which showcased the fantastic work of our students.

Year 13 A Level Drama students were tasked with performing their scripted piece, It’s True, It’s True, It’s True in the style of a particular theatre practitioner and they did so in spectacular style using the techniques of Shared Experience, a company renowned for their expressionistic approach. Shared Experience has pioneered a thrillingly distinctive performance style that celebrates the union of physical and text-based theatre. Tackling potent universal themes, Shared Experience explores the relationship between the world we inhabit and our inner lives. It’s True, It’s True, It’s True is Breach Theatre’s gripping dramatisation of the 1612 trial of Agostino Tassi for the rape of the young painter Artemisia Gentileschi. Based on surviving court transcripts, the play blends history, myth and contemporary commentary to ask: how much has really changed in the last four centuries?

Our Upper Sixth A Level students presented an innovative, thought-provoking and challenging performance, transforming the Drama Studio with a huge canvas cyclorama, which was suggestive of an art inspired courtroom. They cleverly used step ladders to represent the stand, climbing up and down the ladders fluidly to capture the many shifts in power. The play ends with the victim calling on the mythical figure of Judith before the cast bravely depicted the famous artwork of Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi. Ending with a real moment of true female empowerment, all three cast members belted out ‘Gloria’ by Patti Smith on microphones, whilst painting in red paint #MeToo on the pristine canvas to draw parallels with examples of 21st century gender inequality.

Cast: Eliza Bransby, Emma Docker & Leila Shakoor.

Head of Drama, Mrs Berry said: “The A level students were so brave and innovative in their approach to this extremely mature and challenging piece, and I am extremely proud of them all!”

On Thursday 23rd March, 20 Year 11 GCSE Drama pupils shared examples of their scripted work which they had performed for the visiting examiner on Monday 21st March. Our audience thoroughly enjoyed the showcase, and were treated to a wide variety of performances, which included group pieces and monologues in a variety of styles and genres.

This is a wonderfully comedic adaptation of an extract from Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story written for a cast of three, who play all the roles. The students performed two extracts, the first outlining the story of The Hound of the Baskervilles. In the second extract the cast perform the hilarious opening to Act II, skilfully incorporating the whole of Act I in very inventive and amusing ways at breakneck speed!

Cast: Sophia Babalola, Sophia Betesh & Ruby King.

The play tells the story of Franvera who lives in a country ‘so very near so very far away’ who on her birthday is given a pair of red dancing shoes. When her country collapses into war and ethnic cleansing the shoes become both her link with her old life and also a symbol of the trauma she suffers. The students used beautifully choreography and ensemble storytelling to capture this tragic story and the piece showcased the outstanding dance skills of the performers.

Cast: Ella McManaman, Alyssa Mehta & Zoe Tower.

This is a touching play about abandoned responsibilities; what we choose to remember and what we thought we had forgotten. In the performed extract, Eleanor performed a highly entertaining scene of a character recounting their walk to the park to feed the ducks, only for it to be disturbed by a greedy swan and her ensuing moment of sheer madness.

Cast: Eleanor Bayes

A photo of Scarlett goes viral. Rumours spread across smart phones like wildfire and her reputation becomes toxic, threatening to shatter the fragile unity of the girls she has grown up with. But how long can Scarlett remain silent? And why isn’t it the same for boys?

Girls Like That is an urgent and explosive play that explores gender equality and the pressures on today’s digital generation. The students used exciting physical theatre, ensemble storytelling, comedy and a range of non-naturalistic techniques to tell Scarlett’s story.

Cast: Megan Ballantyne, Zaynab Chowdery, Saanvi Jairath, Anika Ramesh, Lilli Rosenblatt & Daisy Simpson.

Alice

By Laura Wade

This is a modern adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, starting with Alice at her brother’s funeral and ending up in Wonderland. Through her interactions in Wonderland, Alice explores her reaction to her brother’s death. At the end of the play, she returns to the real world and talks with her parents. The students created the highly comedic scenes exploring Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and their rivalries and a tense scene showing the trauma experienced by the Mad Hatter with the Queen of Tarts. They skilfully used a range of physical theatre techniques to create humorous moments and intriguing movement sequences.

Cast: Maya Chudley, Sreya Das & Zixi Guo.

Shakers by John Godber

This is a play set in Shakers Cocktail Bar, THE place to be! In Shakers the four young waitresses reveal the lives of staff and customers and offer an insight into their hopes, dreams and disappointments. The students performed the opening scenes from the play and cleverly played multiple roles, including the waitresses, the men they encounter and the excitable girls who work in the local supermarket and are celebrating a 21st birthday. The students also performed the end of the play, and Evie-Rose Pietkiewicz performed waitress Mel’s monologue, revealing her dark secret to the audience.

Cast: Adhyavi Gupta, Nishi Panwar, Evie-Rose Pietkiewicz & Poppy Winnard.