Year 13 Drama students attended a production of The Bacchae at The National Theatre on Wednesday 1st October.
It was a thrilling adaptation by Nima Taleghani of Euripides Greek tragedy which allowed a strong female chorus to take us through the eventful return of Dionysus to Thebes seeking recognition from his family. The students were blown away with the production, commenting it was “Extraordinary”, “Captivating” and “Relatable to a contemporary Audience”. The students will use this experience of live theatre to debate in their A Level exam the value of using old theatrical material when trying to build younger audience attendance.
The students were exemplary and were upgraded by the National to the best seats in the house!
Miss Mack Head of Drama
Exam students in Drama have been very busy with examinations over the last few weeks! Year 11 have now completed their entire course and Year 10 and 12 have been assessed on their performance units for Devising Drama. The studio has been booked out constantly since February and the hard work and time has now paid off. Please see a few images from recent performance exams in Drama.
Please see below an update with some performance images from GCSE and A Level, well done to all our candidates, Miss Mack and Mrs Hardiman!
Year 11 students performed two scripted extracts to a visiting examiner, each extract was up to 20 mins in length, many of our students really pushed themselves to maximise potential marks by performing the full 40 mins, meaning they could communicating the majority of the playscript offering full character development for their exam.
Texts performed were; Daisy Pulls it Off, Girls Like That, Teechers, Dixon and Daughters, A Curious Incident of the Dog of the Night-time and Ladies Day.
Year 10 Students have worked incredibly hard with a challenging quick turnaround from their Mock examination which provided them with detailed feedback to address in a week with many group members away on international trips! The final performances were re-worked and developed, leading to an improvement of grades across the class.
Year 12 A Level Drama and Theatre students performed their final Devising exam on Monday 19th May. The students produced some excellent thought-provoking drama that communicated beautifully what they set out to achieve. Students responded to original stimulus of Berkoff’s translation of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, from here they delved into research inspired by themes from the playtext. The students worked with Frantic Assembly who led a masterclass with them in February to inspire the use of physical Theatre to explore meaning in performance. The students have been on a journey with these works for some weeks and we are very proud of their final work.
Presdales School Musical – Bugsy MaloneYear 7 and 8 Sign Up – Well Done to all that have signed up in Years 7 and 8, you will receive an invitation to a google classroom page where the rehearsal schedule will be posted. Please check this for your rehearsal dates as you will not be required every rehearsal.
Year 9 Auditions – Monday 4th November – 3.35-5pm in the School Hall
Good preparation for auditions would be to watch ‘Bugsy Malone’ which is available on ITV+ and consider which of the following you would like to audition for.
Any questions, please speak with Miss Mack or Mrs Hardiman in Drama.
Thank you to the Schools Parent Association for awarding Drama with funding to upgrade our lighting equipment in the Drama Studio this year! We are very grateful for your generosity, all students studying Drama will benefit from this improved provision! Thank you to all the parents who support the PA at school events, it does make a real positive impact on our students.
On Friday 11th October, all Year 10 and Year 11 GCSE Drama students went to New Wimbledon Theatre to see a production of ‘Come From Away’! The production takes you into the heart of the remarkable true story of 7,000 stranded passengers and the small town in Newfoundland that welcomed them. Cultures clashed and nerves ran high, but uneasiness turned into trust, music soared into the night, and gratitude grew into enduring friendships. The students were really impressed with the production and thought the multi-rolling of characters played by a small cast was very cleverly done. The production celebrates the good in humankind and did feel very uplifting and inspiring, leaving some of our students in tears at the end. Students were lucky to meet many cast members as our coach was right by the stage door and some even hopped aboard to speak to us! The students were absolutely exemplary and very patient with the long coach journey’s, thank your for making the trip an enjoyable experience for all. A special thanks to Mr Soltysik and Miss Lee for helping to escort the students safely.
Miss Mack and Mrs Hardiman Drama Department
On Monday 21st October, Year 12 A Level Drama and Theatre students performed to our Year 10 GCSE class as part of their first performance assessment for a Devised Drama Mock exam. The students production was inspired by a script extract from ‘Girls Like That’ by Evan Placey, the students then created their own performance that did have a clear education focus of online safety. The performance was also inspired by their learning of Splendid Theatre style and Frantic Assembly physical Theatre style that they have been taught in class workshops with their teachers.
Post performance the A Level led a Q&A session to gain feedback for their written coursework portfolio that they will finalise post performance.
Thank you to Year 10 who gave very insightful feedback to the class, we hope you enjoyed the performance.
Miss Mack and Mrs Hardiman Drama Department
School Production – BUGSY MALONEWe launched the start of Bugsy Malone rehearsals this week, well done to all the first called characters to stage especially our lead actor Chloe Evans playing Bugsy Malone, she arrived off script and reading looking like a true professional!
We would love to hear from dancers who could help with choreography on the school production this year. We would like to allocate some show numbers to student choreographers to direct. If you would like to get involved please get into contact with Miss Mack.
Miss Mack will be touring the new Performance space, BEAM in Hertford next week and meeting to discuss opportunities in the local area.
BEAM have also created a promo code to share with any students who may be interested in seeing the production ‘Black is the color of my Voice’ ahead of Black History Month. The promo code will give students tickets for £10 per person. The code to use is STUDENT10BV
Congratulations to the cast of Matilda Jr the Musical, what an incredible production! The double cast performed 4 performances over the last 3 days to sold out audiences who were blown away by their talent! The Wormwoods were hilarious, the Trunchbull’s terrifying and both Matilda’s demonstrating incredible skill and talent! The named children carried the show with their hard work on vocals and routines and brilliant lines responding to the events. The chorus got better and better every show building the atmosphere with their energy! In the last week we brought in our technical team and backstage crew who were so dependable and professional! A particular mention to Aston Williams in Year 12 on the sound desk multi-tasking like a pro! The audience have been blown away with the standard of this production and could see all the hard work that each member has committed to this since casting last Summer! A huge well done to everyone involved and thank you to all the staff, family and friends who came Along to support us!
We will print another article once we have Year 12 photographs in and all of this pictures will also later be on the website to view.
Miss Mack, Miss Sargent and Mrs Hardiman, Drama and Music
Well done to all students working hard in the cast of Matilda JR, rehearsals continue on a Tuesday and Thursday evening to get show ready! We have been really impressed with students dedication to rehearsals and their fantastic energy levels after a busy school day! Recently we have added some wider chorus members as parents, Big and Little kids. Students have had vocal coaching with our new music teacher Miss Sergeant on show numbers, Miracle, School Song and Hammer! A huge congratulations to Mrs Smith who has blocked some fantastic choreography for Miracle to open the show. We were treated to a run with both casts pulling all blocking together this week and it was very exciting for students to share what they’ve all been working hard on!
Thank you to all involved,
Miss Mack and Mrs Smith, Drama Department
Latest News
Coming Up
w/c Monday 12th
HOUSE : Badminton
Nightingale House Charity Week
Monday 19th to Friday 30th
Year 10 In-class assessments
Thursday 22nd
Year 11 Learn4Living Day
Friday 23rd
EMC Magazine Conference for Year 12 Media Students
Contact Us
Presdales School
Hoe Lane
Ware
Hertfordshire
SG12 9NX
Tel: 01920 462210
admin@presdales.herts.sch.uk
Headteacher:
Mr Warren
