Year 11 Drama GCSE Performance

The whole process of getting ready over recent weeks had been frenetic – but rewarding.  This performance was part of the preparation; making sure that students are confident to face the examiner.

Our students have worked hard during lessons to prepare original pieces of drama.  This year the devised work has to be inspired by the phrase: Looking Back / Looking Forward.

At St. James’ we have a certain inclusive ‘house style’ which involves all the students on stage all the time – and making up for a lack of scenery with physical and vocal skill.

There is a great deal of work to be done when creating a piece of theatre and the pressure is certainly on if it is to be awarded high marks.

The first piece, Baba Yaga was inspired by a Russian folk tale and saw the cast with sticks and silk tell the story: a young woman, down on her luck is thrown into the arms of a wicked witch!

Almost There, was presented by the second group as a dream state. Here, time and story lines were not what we expected them to be. Twin brother and sister reflected on their past relationship and then had to deal with secrets and the aftermath of a terrible accident.

Finally, group three gave us Lights Out.  This piece was presented in the challenging style of ‘theatre of cruelty’. A young man’s life has spiralled out of control. We saw a bad start lead to a bleak future.

All students did really well on the night and in the examination and were not without the expected nervous jitters that comes with any performance. We hope that they continue to experience success in the imminent season of public examinations.

The performers were:

Caterina Alves, Bobbi Davis, Ivan Dias Amado, Rochelle Ferguson, Zuzana Fernandes, Ben Guare Mulready, Mateusz Idec, Elza Kanangila, Roberto Morreale, Toni Morton, Ashley Kabena, Shannon O’Connor, Emily O’Sullivan, Mia Estelle Osei Nyarko, Jakub Paradowski,Jospeh Pascoe, Finn Vardy McGrath, Julia Wozniak, Danke Daramy Koroma and Jonathan Mensah