This week, the Performing Arts Centre (PAC) opened its doors for a Junior Drama Showcase. Here Director of Drama, Miss Rhiannon Johnson, reviews the evening.
“The annual showcase returned after a two-year Covid hiatus and it was wonderful to welcome an excited audience through our doors, once again. The two groups to perform were the Lower School Drama Club and The Middle Fourth College Players; in total there were 42 junior performers, supported by three senior student technicians, plus the pieces were ably directed by our ten Sixth Form drama students. As always, the pupils had only spent a total of seven period sessions rehearsing, no mean feat!
The evening began with a 20-minute reimagining of CS Lewis’s classic The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, featuring Father Christmas, gangster beavers and some very angry gnomes! The Lower School pupils performed with professionalism, skill, and excellent comic timing. They most certainly transported us into the magical world of Narnia.
After the interval, it was time for The College Players to take to the stage, where they skilfully performed extracts from Coraline, Sweeney Todd, and Atonement to name but a few. This showcase is a perfect opportunity for the junior pupils to collaborate with their peers to create a snapshot of what is to come, as auditions for both the Lower School musical Matilda, and the Middle Fourth production of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, are happening next week. Look out for these productions next May, as we have many talented thespians climbing the ranks.”
