The hotly contested House Drama took place on Friday 17 June; groups of Year 9 and 10 pupils from each of the different Houses were given one prop and two hours to create, rehearse and perfect an innovative and unique piece of theatre, using their prop as inspiration. The variety of props meant that the pieces were hugely varied; whilst the majority of groups had gone a comic theme, some pieces were more sombre, which made for a fantastic afternoon of theatre.
After spending time discussing ideas, inventing a plot line and characters, and making sure the piece was audience-ready, the performers took to the stage, in front of a packed audience and a panel of judges. Deputy Head Academic Mr Nick Brown was joined by Marketing Assistant Miss Chelsi Challis, Mr Chris Alcock and Mrs Jane Redley to judge the pieces based on a variety of strict criteria, including actors’ characterisation, projection, use of the stage space and original use of prop. Burr House took to the stage first, performing an absolutely hilarious piece based around a broom. Rory Diez-Harrison and Stanley Ingram played a homosexual couple who were looking around a house for sale. Whilst Rory’s character briefly left the stage, Stanley broke the fourth wall to claim directly to the audience that he didn’t even want to be in the relationship. This is the point where their prop came into play; Marc Cano Sostre, sweeping in his role as a cleaner, threw his broom aside and leapt into Stanley’s arms, and they rush offstage together. Rory played the grieving lover beautifully, and the play ended with a ballroom dance routine, danced to Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On.
Orchard were next onstage; they, too, had chosen a broom, however the piece had a far more sobering theme. Will Mandondo played a street sweeper, who knew everyone’s story on a crowded street scene. The chaos of the busy street was punctuated by freeze frames, where the audience would see a snippet of action from one character’s life, before the scene moved on again – for example, Joseph Perry played a street vendor, who struggled to scrape a living. At the end of all of this, no one knew Will’s story. It was a poignant ending, reminding us not to dismiss a humanity that joined us all. Everett were next to take the spotlight, who had created a brilliantly clever piece around a bed sheet. In the play, the bedsheet took on many roles; starting as a blanket draped around Joseph Rayner, who was playing an old man, reminiscing. Patrick Kenny played the young man, who took the audience through his time as a matador in Spain, to a soldier in the war. The piece was clever and moving, and undoubtedly made the best use of the prop!
Skipwith performed next, giving a sombre piece about a young boy, played by Michael Scanlon, who was violently abused by his father. The story was very heart-wrenching, as the audience were witness to violent outbreaks from the character’s life to date. However, the play had a happy resolution: the Skipwith group had cleverly used a key as their prop, to open the door to a happier future and an apologetic father. Filling the last space was Welsh, who gave a Fawlty Towers themed piece. Their prop, a deodorant, was the central focus for the play, which was about two businessmen in various meetings trying to sell their invention. The hapless helper, Henry Finnegan, kept interrupting meetings and generally upsetting the businessmen However, upon witnessing an allergic reaction to the product, Henry sprang into action and – to much applause - was the unlikely hero of the day.
It was an incredibly clever, comic and moving line up, and the judges were hard-pushed to agree on a winner. Indeed, even as Mr Brown stood to deliver the results, there were still discussions – the points were so close. In third place, came Skipwith. Second place was awarded to Welsh, which just left the coveted first place to award – and, after much discussion and deliberation, this went to Orchard. Their piece was moving and poetic and pointed to a humanity we all share. Head of Drama Mrs Jenny Nunes commented: ‘very well done to all the boys involved; the pieces were of such a high standard and the imagination put in was evident. All the Houses should be deservedly proud.’