Well-earned applause for our GCSE Drama Cohort
After many weeks of rehearsal, this year’s GCSE Drama cohort performed their scripted pieces on Thursday night for Component 2 of their assessed work.
The extracts explored an enormous range of themes and theatrical styles, from the detail of Naturalism to the surreal, existential uncertainty of Absurdism.
Working in pairs and trios, the boys enjoyed discovering their characters and reflecting on the complex themes to bring the required character development to life.
The audience was taken from the harrowing reality of trench warfare in WWI to America’s Great Depression; from Germany during the rise of Nazism, to the Californian landscape; from fictional French towns to conflict in Afghanistan; from Merseyside and South London to New York.
Along with the change of place and era for each play, the accents, energy and emotion shifted markedly, with the levity of comic moments cutting through the heaviness of darker pieces. The costumes, music, direction and staging were inventive, helping to transport the audience to where the extracts were depicted.
Congratulations to all those who took part and to the Drama Department for their support and organisation of over thirty performers, thirty excerpts, and the requisite scene changes and soundtracks – the coordination involved backstage was almost as remarkable as the performances on it.
