Senior Drama Production: Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing
The school was energised from our recent outstanding senior school productions. The SWPS Drama department was extremely excited to present two of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Much ado Nothing’ in one night. Our creative directors – Mrs White and Ms Whitfield – wanted to bring new life to the classic stories and transposed the setting of Macbeth to a dystopian landscape where power struggles dominate the battle for survival. The darkness and themes of ambition and cruelty suited a bleak and ominous backdrop. In contrast, Much Ado was lighter and full of romantic twists and turns, which were played out in Shakespeare’s imitable style. The productions featured casts of over 40 students from Years 10 to 13, and for our Year 13 students, this was their final production at SWPS. It was a delight to see so many of them being involved both on stage and in technical roles.
Congratulations to the cast and crew involved in these productions, and a special thank you to our wonderful Drama department for all the hard work they put in. Both live shows were performed to sell-out audiences!
Thank you for all the glowing comments received
“Wow, wow, wow. That was the best night of theatre I have ever attended! Have you thought of taking the production to the Edinburgh Festival?!”
“Huge congratulations to you both and to all your colleagues on two fantastic productions. I was fortunate enough to see both performances – I came away from Thursday night blown away but oh my goodness last night was INCREDIBLE!”
‘Stage Ed’ Blood Brothers workshop – Report from Eden, Year 10
The Drama department definitely had a dramatic dawn to a new half term. Year 10 and 11 GCSE Drama students watched Willy Russel’s ‘Blood Brothers’ the musical at the Richmond Theatre for a better insight to our set play for GCSE. After watching the play, I was certainly reconsidering my favourite musical! Blood Brothers tosses your emotions around through their nostalgically playful soundtrack, along with jaw-clenching jump scares of bullets (you could hear screaming in the audience), and hilarious depictions of child characters. In addition to this, there were several, memorably poignant scenes, where the actors tackled raw, complex emotions flawlessly. As it was my first time watching a performance on a raked stage, I was interested in how dynamic and symbolic the movements of the characters became.
It was also a privilege to take part in a Stage Ed workshop, focused on Blood Brothers led by West End actors Stephen Palfreman and Mike Southern. The year 10 Dtama students worked on four scenes, as well as received advice on how to approach Drama GCSE exam. Finding our inner seven-year-olds and acting as them for the whole day- with questionable Liverpudlian accents – really drained all our energy! But channelling all that energy as a collective ensemble brought about great self-satisfaction in our performance. This was the only day where we could stand on chairs and shout at the top of our lungs which created a further exciting atmosphere. However, my favourite part of the day had to be when Stephen Palfreman delivered his iconic poem as Mickey Johnstone, live in front of us, with unmatched enthusiasm. I am so grateful to have had such a week involved in theatre and I feel that my passion for drama has grown.
Eden S 10L
