Another play in the Night of American Drama
was a bizarre, intense piece, staged by Kevan Du,
Lower Sixth, who writes, ‘The best part of this
whole process was that it allowed us to dive into
the world of theatre through our own student-led
exploration, with minimal guidance from teachers.
This was an amazing and unforgettable experience.’
He reflected also on the level of thought required
to bring a project like this together. ‘As we started
working, we began to notice how difficult it was to
make theatrical decisions by ourselves without the
help of a director. This ultimately led us to research
further into the background of American theatre.
As we delved deeper, it helped us to gain the
inspiration we needed to come up with ideas as well
as allowing us to understand our characters and the
story we were telling.’
We have also seen a performance of Three, produced
by Year 10 students led and directed by Isabella
Munday. She described her experience as one of
‘total enjoyment’ and spoke fondly of working with
a cast of close friends. She too mentioned that
whilst there is an enormous amount of effort that
goes into creating a piece of theatre, the experience
was something she would ‘do again in a heartbeat’.
We rounded off our year with a new interpretation
of a devised piece of theatre that was originally
performed as part of the SSC Drama Showcase.
Touched was based on research by the original cast
examining an assault that took place in a university
hall of residence. At the helm of the project, Carla
Messinger and Varvara Sycheva described their
experience as a ‘steep learning curve‘ which enabled
them to understand ‘the boundary between what
is fun and what is useful in presenting a piece of
theatre‘. This performance, which centred on
female testimony and assault, shows that a
school play can tackle difficult issues and still be
entertaining and impactful.
It is a delight to see students who have been
inspired to share their skills and performance work.
These projects have promoted a love of learning and
allowed the students to research deeper into a topic
of their choice.
Karl Niklas
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2018-2019
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