LOWER SCHOOL DRAMA SHOWCASE
YEAR 8 PLAY
We started the Lower School drama club in the Michaelmas term and decided to explore The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman as our inspiration . We experimented with creating short dramatic adaptations from sections of the book , finding out what worked on stage and what didn ’ t . We used freeze frames , action-narration and chorus work , giving everyone a chance to have a say in developing material .
In the Lent term we were restricted by lockdown and couldn ’ t do anything in person . We used this as an opportunity to try some scenes in the form of a radio drama ; we used some voices and added some DIY and recorded sound effects to show what was happening . We performed these in small groups in Microsoft Teams .
When we came back from lockdown , we started to work on a script which included everything we had discovered through the previous two terms , including the radio drama , which we adapted for the stage . I think this turned out really well and added an interesting element to the production : we had to come up with a convention to justify it , so created the impression of a technical failure with the sound desk , with the actors having to then improvise all the sound effects .
In the showcase performance we remained on stage at the same time , sat in a semi-circle watching and reacting to what was happening in front of us . I think this made the performance really atmospheric and tense .
What I loved about this year was that the whole cast influenced the script and how it was executed . This made the process of making the production great fun .
Ruby Thomas , Year 8
THE TIME-TRAVELLING BIN
You may ask : ‘ Time-travelling bin ?’ Our original idea for the Year 7 production was to perform extracts from Neil Gaiman ’ s The Graveyard Book . We developed scripts and choreography , and had two remote sessions with professional puppet-maker Russell Dean to work on shadow puppets . But lockdown interrupted , so in the Summer term , we discontinued the Graveyard-based project and split into two groups : The Time-Travelling Bin ( Charles Dunstan , Franz Lahura Sturm , Aryana Mahdavi Ardestani , Zac Wormsley and me , led by Ms Goodwin and Miss Grant ) and The Diary of Valencia Adams ( reviewed below by Jessica Robbens ).
52 DRAMA REVIEW