House Drama Finals: The Space in Between
This year’s final of the annual House Drama competition, Drama 15s, took place on Thursday evening, following Monday’s heats.
The theme was The Space in Between and the boys were challenged to either perform a script, or their own devised piece in response to the stimuli. Whilst usually only four Houses make it through to the final, the judges felt that five Houses deserved a one of the coveted places.
Our guest judge was Colette Redgrave, who had previously directed Starlight Express on our stage, and now works as a voice-over artist in addition to touring productions such as Picasso’s Women. Old Tonbridgian, Tom Metcalfe (WH 2020-25), also returned from Trinity Laban (where he is studying Musical Theatre) to watch the competition, having led Welldon House to victory last year.
The finalists were:
Cowdrey House, Confessions (winner) – a phone-in style radio show, which combined comedy with a serious message on masculinity and mental health through an original script and larger-than-life characters.
Manor House, Jekyll and Hyde – interpreting the theme in terms of ‘everyone has a second identity’, the depravity of Mr Hyde’s character was brought to life through a series of scenes enhanced by eerie violins and clever choreography of the Novi chorus.
Oakeshott House, Brooklyn 999 – using the stimuli of The Space in Between, the cast depicted the ‘hacking scene’ from the hit TV show, with scenes oscillating between identifying hackers and finding the perfect garlic bread accompaniment for a lasagne.
Hill Side, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – this extract explored the emotional response of Christopher, the main protagonist, when his literal response to the world results in his arrest.
Smythe House, Faulty Towers – took a comedic interpretation of the stimulus, with a characteristic mix-up leading to the accidental death of a hotel inspector who had the misfortune of inhabiting a room in between two sets of spies.
During the judges’ deliberation, the audience was kept entertained by two staff plays, a duolog by Harold Pinter, No Man’s Land and an adaptation of Sure Thing by David Ives – both showing the remarkable talent and enthusiasm amongst our staff to get involved in entertaining the boys.
After Cowdrey was crowned the winning House, Head of Drama, Gavin Bruce, announced the winners of the individual awards as follows:
Best Actor: Antonin (Sc3)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Will (SH1)
Best Direction: Jekyll and Hyde (MH)
Most creative script: Cost of Similarity (PH)
Best use of technical theatre: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (HS)
