Two Plays in a Day

Midweek, the Drama Department headed for the bright lights of London to catch not one, but two plays in a day! This annual trip forms a fond part of preparations for the live review element of the GCSE and A Level Drama courses. It is also an introduction to live theatre analysis for Year 9 students opting for GCSE Drama.

Head of Drama, Peter Scoggins, commented “Today we had an exceptional educational visit to see world class theatre which included analysis from teachers and discussion with peers who are taking the same exam paper. It is rare that we have the chance to see a Bertolt Brecht play (set practitioner) as part of the annual trip but this year, The Lyric Hammersmith is producing The Good Person of Szechwan which has been heralded as the ‘theatre pick of 2023’ by the Guardian, The Telegraph and The Times.”

Peter continued, “After seeing this seminal play, we had an early tea in Hammersmith and moved into the West End to see Dirty Dancing. This production was chosen as a contrast to the other performance experience and will further student learning in GCSE and A Level Drama & Theatre Studies, in terms of design and the blended disciplines of acting, singing and dancing. This is a fantastic day for our Drama students, where we see the tangible impact in their practical and written work.”

Abbey Thurston in Year 9, who most recently proved her talents in Return to the Forbidden Planet, reflected “The theatre trip was very good. We saw two totally different but amazing plays, one that told a very important and not usually talked about story and one that was full of fun and upbeat dances following a romantic love story. I learnt that different types of theatre can captivate an audience in many different ways and make them feel very different things.”

Findlay who also featured in our most recently school production, reported “My favourite thing about the first play was that it had a lot of creativity in it. My favourite thing about the second play was that there was a lot of personality and effort put into it. I learned that plays take time and effort to create and most likely will be based on something that already exists. I thought that the productions were very interesting and fun to watch.”