Drama Report 2010-2011

In many ways, our production this year felt like we had come full circle: ‘Joseph’ was the show I chose to put on in my first full year at the school and there we were again. In between, we had squeezed in ‘Oliver!’, two Shakespeare adaptations, a Disney classic and some G & S, but it felt reassuring to tackle a production that, although challenging, was so familiar.

In the cast we had some very familiar faces- year 8 leavers Emily Wilson, Bethany Gaunt and Harry Richardson had all featured onstage since 2008 we were naturally very sorry to see them go; I really appreciate their time and commitment over the years and I sincerely hope they take with them fond memories of all the shows that they have starred in. It is also worth taking this opportunity to congratulate Anna Cooper for her much deserved drama scholarship award to Canford School and George Fraemohs for receiving his Ballard School performing arts scholarship.

The show itself was a great success; particular highlights for me being the 'Canaan Days' scene with the brothers gathered tightly around Mr. Harrison's 'bistro' piano, Mrs Potiphar's wonderful dance and song written especially for Emily and Theo James' rousing 'Song of the King' with full hip swivel and arm point!

Back to the autumn term and the year 7 pantomime, ‘Sleeping Beauty’ took to the stage (well, the music school)- there were many stand out moments from probably the most rounded panto that we have produced: King Wanserella of Durlstonia- (Freddie Phillips) and Queen Tesselation of Durlstonia- (Amoree Mourgue) gelled particularly well; the magic frogs Jacob Baxendale and Edward Fitzwilliams sang and performed with aplomb; Chef Michel Poux's (Theo James) accent was tres bien and Tomek Bruml's Professer Petty was … well, you had to be there.

In March the Shakespeare group came in once again and worked with years 4 and 5 on a version of ‘Romeo and Juliet’; this annual event is a wonderful experience for the children.

This year’s Y6 public speaking competition was as competitive as ever with 3 minute speeches on topics as varied as: 20/20 cricket, Minstead, New Zealand, Guinea pigs, paintballing and even maggots! The eventual winner was Polly Allen with a speech on her driving skills, with video evidence!

End of year prizes: Holly Smart received the ‘New Milton Talking Newspaper’ English speaking cup primarily for her clarity and expression as a narrator in our summer musical ‘Joseph’. James Gaunt was awarded the drama progress prize for his efforts taking on the challenging lead role in the summer production.

Finally, Emily Wilson and Anna Cooper shared the Tony Hancock Senior Drama Prize for their magnificent achievements in drama not only this year, but in productions such as ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘HMS Pinafore’ in recent years at Durlston.

R. Fulton