St Laurence School Showcase

For the second year running St Laurence Drama department took part in the National Connections festival. Every year the NT commisions ten new plays, each of which are performed by schools and youth groups across the UK. Each group performs in the own venue and in a partner theatre. For us this meant a day out working with Wiltshire Creative at the Salisbury Playhouse. This year the Year 10 GCSE Drama group chose a play called ‘Replica’ by Titus Halder which looks at the nature of relationships, friendships, what it means to be human and how you can prove you are one! The young cast had a fantastic day at the playhouse – rehearsing on the stage and participating in a workshop before peforming to over 100 people in the impressive auditorium. This was a valuable experience and the cast appreciated the opportunity to get to know each other better as well as gain confidence. They also loved working with the professionals at the playhouse.

Mrs Nash & Miss Davies spent a day at half term undertaking the mammoth task of clearing out the costume cupboard! Many gems were discovererd and it’s now much easier to find what you need in there! We often received donations of old clothes and props – which are always gratefully received – so it’s good to have somewhere tidy to store them at last!

Students joined an online session with the V & A museum to learn about the secrets behind staging a Disney musical. Focusing on the stage show ‘Aladdin’ students heard from the Head of Costume, the Stage Manager, the Choreographer and a member of the ‘swing’. Swing is the term given to an understudy of cast members – they ‘track’ a number of characters in the play and need to be ready to jump into any of those parts at a moment’s notice. We learnt some fun phrases that get them through the times when they have to go on stage and cover so that they audience don’t notice any mistakes – ‘strong and wrong’ and ‘shove with love’! It was a great event which the students enjoyed – we’ll keep an eye out for similar events in the future.

65 students from Years 7-9 travelled to the Bristol Old Vic to watch their version of ‘Arabian Nights’. The new retelling of the story focused on ‘Sher’ telling her stories to a petulant, vain King in order to distract him from his mission to punish all women for the heartbreak he suffered when his wife left him. While the audience were surprised by the lack of references to the actual stories told – these are, after all, usually what we expect to see in this play – they enjoyed the wonderful set, stunning lighting and the story of how Sher and her friends and family come together to defeat the arrogant dictator. The students were excellent company and were a delight to take away as we near the end of this long term.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

This year the Music, Dance and Drama departments all came together to celebrate all the students who had been involved in a Performing Arts event in the 2022/2023 season. Last year hundreds of students took part in performances at the Bath Forum, the Wiltshire Music Centre, Salisbury Playhouse, the Tobacco Factoryin Bristol and even in our own Trinity Hall! It was a fanastic year with plenty to celebrate. The evening was attended by nominees, their families and friends, and began with an inspirational speech by Kylie Perry – the co-artistic director of The Paper Birds Theatre company, who has worked with many of our Drama students this year. There followed awards for a variety of categories including Best Newcomer, Most Improved and The Triple Threat. With 68 nominees across 17 categories, the winners were rewarded with thunderous applause and their own mini gold statuette. The Performing Arts is a real strength at St Laurence with students both appearing in and helping behind the scenes. The hotly contested Technical Award saw nominations for student lighting designers, sound technicians and stage managers. We are excited to see what students gets involved in this year!

Over 70 pupils from Years 7-12 took part in a production of ‘Bugsy Malone’ with four performances to over 800 people – including 260 from local primary schools. Directed by Head of Drama, Catherine Nash, and choreographed by Head of Dance, Sarah Eyles, this was the first whole school production in Trinity Hall for some time and the hard work of all those involved certainly paid off. Not only did pupils perform on stage they also took charge of the technical elements of the show under the guidance of technical manager Jason Parker. On the final night three student stage managers ran the show and impressed everyone with their smooth handling and calm control of the busy backstage area. The superb band were made up of 5 pupils from Years 7-11 with only one teacher on the piano – Head of Music Rebecca Hancock. A large number of staff helped out – the set was created by the amazing DT department, ‘Tomorrow’ was beautifully choreographed by Rachel Arnold and a number of staff got in on the action – allowing themselves to be ‘splurged’ for an exclusive video played after the interval. This was truly an inclusive, student led production that involved the whole school community and we are very proud of everyone involved. Feedback from the audience was unanimous – Bugsy was a hit! The only question now is – what’s next?!

“totally blown away!”

“unbelievable performance by everyone – so much energy”

“incredible performance! So many talented students”

“What a fabulous performance! You were all brilliant. All your hard work paid off. We loved it!”

“Couldn’t stop smiling! What a talented group 😊”

“All of you were brilliant! Good job on such a stunning performance”

“We absolutely loved it! You were all brilliant, keep it going.”

“absolutely fantastic performance! Laughing the whole time. Well done!”

“Beautifully put together! Such a great ensemble of talent! They should all be extremely proud of themselves. The last song brought everything to a great end.”

“Absolutely fantastic! Enjoyed it so much, you were all fabulous – well done xx.”

There’s some suspicious goings on as students are busy preparing for the whole school production of ‘Bugsy Malone’. For the first time since 2017 students in Years 7-12 will be performing in Trinity Hall – and what an iconic musical to get back into the swing of things! Performances take place on Tuesday 11th, Wednesday 12th and Friday 14th July at 7pm. Tickets are available to current staff and students through the ‘ParentPay’ system or contact Head of Drama Catherine Nash (catnas@st-laurence.com) if you’d like to join us. Dress to impress 1920’s style on Friday 14th – see you in the Speakeasy!

At St Laurence Drama is not all about the acting. We are proud to have students in all years who are interested in lighting, sound, costume and set design. We also have an A Level Director! Recently Year 10 GCSE student Leiland Knight completed an online course with the National Theatre looking at all aspects of lighting design. Leiland was one of only 45 young people in the country to take part in the course which he says was highly enjoyable and useful for his budding ambitions to be a lighting designer. Leiland also recently completed his work experience at the Wiltshire Music Centre and you can see him working the lighting desk at our forthcoming whole school production of Bugsy Malone.