Past Productions Academic
A2 Devised Play 2012
Footsteps in Time
Footsteps in Time – an evocative devised play [based on Samuel Beckett’s ‘Footfalls’] by Louis Edmanson, Victoria Payne, Ciara O’Kelly and Jamie Morris – explored the issues within 1940s Irish Catholicism regarding marriage and love.
May, a young Catholic child brilliantly portrayed by Ciara O’Kelly, finds herself in dire straits after discovering she is pregnant with the child of her secret non-Catholic lover, Daniel, a British solider emotionally acted by Jamie Morris. The local Priest, a character skillfully executed by Louis Edmanson, persuades May’s strict Catholic Mother, convincingly performed by Victoria Payne, to give the bastard child away. After Daniel is killed in battle, May has nowhere to turn and spends her life looking after her mother. Upon her death, May’s mother, along with the priest, has a revelation and confesses that giving the child away was her biggest regret, leaving May alone to wonder what could have been.
The performance was extremely empowering, using both naturalistic and physical theatre to portray the complex emotions of the piece, which resulted in a smooth, well executed devised play.
Which Bridge to Burn
Eolande Diaz, Joe Wander, Elliot Keefe and Ellie Casely created a thought provoking performance exploring the effects of PTSD; ‘Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’. The story evolved around the character Sergeant Bradshaw excellently portrayed by Joe Wander, 
where after the emotional death of his comrade Curtis, the audience chose option B ‘he has to leave the army and face the judgment of the other soldiers to return home to his wife and daughter’. Upon the option of returning home he struggles with the everyday life as he is tormented by an apparition of Major Dunn, outstandingly performed by Elliot Keefe. The wife of Sergeant Bradshaw Helen struggles to come to terms with the change of her husband. After a physical act of violence, Bradshaw is summoned by a councillor fantastically played by Ellie Casely who fails to find any medication to ease the effects of his disease. The play was performed in a physical, physiological and emotional way that captivated the audience’s attention and ensured a memorable piece of dramatic theatre.
AS Plays 2011
The Metamorphosis
For our AS performance, we preformed ‘Metamorphosis’ written by Franz Kafka, adapted by Steven Berkoff. The plot consists of Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, who wakes up in his bed to find himself transformed into a large insect.
As the play develops, problems arise and eventually Gregor abandons the will to live for the sake of his family, who are struggling to cope with his insect state. It was a demanding piece to perform although we did manage to, in my opinion, succeed in making it a believable thirty minute performance.
All four of us developed our characters in different ways. Joe Wander played the role of Mr Samsa. He effectively showed how emotionally broken and exhausted the character was, and he performed to an excellent standard – as did the rest of the cast. Ellie Casely played the role of Mrs Samsa, the wife of Mr Samsa and the mother of Gregor she clearly represented how frail and distressed the character really was. 
Eolande Diaz-Phillips played the role of Greta, Gregor’s sister. She was a young woman, who initially shows great concern for Gregor, but her compassion gives way to resentment as the effects of Gregor’s transformation on her life slowly take their toll. Her performance was also admirable. Ciara O’kelly played the role of the Lodger and the Chief Clerk. She created two devious and powerful characters through the use of voice and physical movement and her overall performance really captured the audiences’ attention. Finally, Elliot Keefe performed as Gregor Samsa. Elliot was able to show the audience how the character struggles to relax his lingering humanity with his physical condition. All of the performances were to a very high standard and hopefully, the examiner was able to see the hard work and determination the entire cast put in, to make the play as successful as it was.
4.48 Psychosis
On Thursday 12th May an audience gathered to watch the AS-Level performances, unaware of what was to come. Written by Sarah Kane, 4.48 Psychosis is a play based on the final thoughts of her life as she considers her suicide. This powerful piece put across the desperation of the author and the cruel reality of clinical depression in a sterile environment. This play was made all the more potent and moving through the performances of Jamie Morris, Vicky Payne and Louis Edmanson as they switched between the characters of Sarah Kane and her Doctors with absolute and skilled conviction. This was certainly a memorable performance...
GCSE Plays 2011
The Long Road
"The first devised piece was a play called The Long Road. This play is about the change that a family go through after losing their daughter/sister to a knife crime attack. Flo Hart played the role of Amy and she had the difficult task of acting like a ghostly character for the majority of the play, this was also aided by Robbie David’s fantastic lighting design and Irene Tse’screative if not a little disturbing costume. Flo surprised everyone with her ability on stage and the audience were genuinely moved by her character. The brother of Amy was played by Alastair Babington who brought to his role an emotional intensity that portrayed the torture he was facing. The Father played by Bastian Harvey also struggled to deal with the death of his daughter as we saw his sorrows sink into the bottom of a beer can. Maybe the most moving character of all was the mother played by Liam Arnow, her portrayal of the character was outstanding and not only was she performing in her second language but she had also completed her GCSE in one year, which in itself is a huge achievement."
Hard to Swallow
"The second of the devised pieces was a play called Hard to Swallow. This play focussed on a teenager named Catherine who was battling Anorexia. This group showed imagination, creativity and flare as they devised their’ performance. A mixture of naturalism and stylised scenes kept the audience on the edge of their seats and emotionally connected to the story they were seeing fold out in front of them. Flora Shadbolt played the role of Catherine convincingly and we all felt for her character as we literally saw the layers of weight fall off her. This effect was created with a fantastic and inspired costume design from Flora Dickinson and it is an idea that I shall be stealing from her again in the future.
Flora Shadbolt’s monologue was a real highlight of the piece as we saw her mind taking control of her body. 
Jack Williams played the role of the brother and his performance was noted as being outstanding, a professional actor in the making was one of the comments that I heard. It is very difficult to believe that I would see Charlotte Routledge playing a serious role when I saw her as the joker at the beginning of year ten. However, she took on the role of the doctor with ease and once the posh accent was mastered she was flying. Alex Holme as the father overcame his initial “shouty” tone of voice to pull off an excellent portrayal of a man losing control over his family, and Grace Coleman was outstanding as the mother, her monologue at the end was stunning and I smiled and sat watching with a great sense of pride. Of course this performance wouldn’t have been possible without the lighting design created by the up and coming technician Alec Reade who created a very suitable atmosphere for the actors.
After the initial relief of it all being over had settled in, I am now left feeling very proud of every single member of the class, this is the first group I have seen through their full GCSE and they are definitely one that I will never forget. I look forward to seeing what they have to offer the stage in the next couple of years!"
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Medicine and Madness
"Thomas Stuart, Rosie Cookson and Ellie Hedley-Dent performed an adaptation of Macbeth called “Medicine and Madness”; this focused on Lady Macbeth’s decent into madness and the Doctor’s and Gentlewoman’s observation of her behaviour and attempts to help her. The small cast worked hard to create the dark and sombre mood of the piece and Rosie Cookson captured Lady Macbeth’s extremes of emotion with skill and subtlety; at one moment she is persuading her husband to murder the innocent Duncan in the next she it tortured by the guilt that she can’t escape. The cast used a variety of drama techniques to good effect the performance was complimented by costumes designed by Christina Lomas."
Sweeney Todd
"As Sweeney Todd began we were greeted by disturbing music and dramatic freeze-frames, which helped to establish the general mood of the play and the characters. Sweeney Todd (Will Smaldon) in his barber’s costume was equally as terrifying as his infamous chair, swapping from easy charm to sinister threats with alarming swiftness. Lydia Cree (Mrs Lovett) brought a touch of humour to the play with her attempts to seduce the creepy Dr. Lupin. The cockney accents were well sustained and the characters well defined. As in all good melodramas good finally triumphs over evil and Mark Ingestre (Tom Golden), with the help of Tobias (Alastair Correya) ensures that Sweeney’s evil ways are brought to an end and he is reunited with his long-lost love Joanna (Elizabeth Essery).
The costumes, designed by Rachael Bundy, were a brilliant reflection of the Victorian times and striking lighting from Oliver Tobey helped to create the sinister mood. This was a well-crafted piece of drama that kept the audience on the edge of their seats."
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A2 Production Dec 2010
Euphoria
This year’s A2 performance piece was based it around the topical issue of drug-driving. We were prompted to do this by a song from the cult film, ‘Trainspotting’, which gave a frightening image of what drugs can do to the most genuine of people. As a group we developed the plot, which centred on John, a heroin addict, who causes a car crash whilst high. Also involved in the crash, are four unwitting victims, who each have a different, but touching story to tell. The play ends with John being told of the crash whilst lying in hospital. The final message of how drugs can destroy not only the user’s life, but the lives of others – people completely uninvolved – was one that we felt was very topical to our own age group.
Leading from the front was John Steer-Fowler, in a devastating performance as the pitiless drug-user. Edward Carlton, Vicki Cox, Ellie Howe and Emily Mayes make up the rest of the cast, each bringing their own unique and eloquent portrayals of the car crash victims to life.
Supporting the cast with his lighting was Samuel Edwards, whose intuitive decisions created an atmosphere that one audience member, described as “haunting and deeply upsetting”.
Ending the play with two sequences helped us to not only make it an enjoyable experience for the audience as a fiction piece, but also as a serious critique on society. The penultimate scene involved the car crash victims walking towards a bright light at the back of the stage, which showed them passing onto the next life. The final sequence, however, was much more real, with the entire cast standing in front of a strip of light at the front of the stage. After reciting a true fact about the pain and suffering that drugs cause, each actor placed a bouquet of flowers into the light, and sombrely walked off the stage. With that, the play ended, and with no curtain call, the audience was left with the lasting image of the flowers in the light – or on a grave.
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A2 Production Jan 2010
The Lost Art of Being a Man
For our A2 performance piece we were given stimulus in the form of an article on LGBT attacks (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual). It gave the most cruel and vicious encounters on attacks that happen every day in our society. As a group, we used this and other research to create our own performance which highlighted the oppression people go through due to their sexuality.
Our production was complimented by an almost continuous soundtrack designed by Conor Purcell and lighting by Jake Cushway. Jeremy Manning, Guy Potter, Mitchell Benellick and Julian Strong gave uniformly strong performances as the attackers and Julie Gordon played the female roles.
We also want to question different perceptions of masculinity and what it takes to be ‘a real man’. Our play began to the song, Walk Like a Man by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons with a choreographed dance. We then portrayed what a stereotypical man from the 1950s should be like through choral speaking and movement. This light humour contrasted to the dark other side to the play. We ended this section of our performance with the question, 'But are all men real men?' We then began to tell the tale of Michael Boothe, his family, his partner and about the lives of those who murdered him. We included quotes from various people who have suffered from homophobic bullying. Towards the end of our play, all the characters put on t-shirts saying their true feelings towards homosexual people. For example, "I am the sister who holds her gay brother... I am confused about my sexuality... My step father was gay..." We lastly, questioned the audience with... 'How would you have treated me?' being projected on stage.
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AS Production May 2010
Find Me
Mid May saw the AS production and performance of ‘Find Me’ by Olwen Wymark directed by Fiona Baddeley. A tragic, true story of Verity suffering from an undiagnosed mental illness. This play is the account of her experiences and relationships with her family and surroundings as she struggles to be ‘found’.
Five people played the part of Verity to show the confusion throughout her life, Vicki Cox, India Harvey, Indiana Murphy, Ellie Howe and Amelia Young played their roles. The part of the Mother and Father remained constant during the play. Emily Mayes played Verity’s hysterically desperate mother, Jean Taylor. Edward Carlton as Edward Taylor, the father, showed a range of amazing paternal emotions and understanding in just wanting to help his daughter. All the other actors swapped roles from cold anonymous consultants and geriatrics to family members and school children. John Steer-Fowler took on the other male roles ranging from Verity’s exasperated brother to a compassionate Halfway House warden.
The play of course wouldn’t be complete without the technical team with Samuel Edwards as lighting technician and Kit Gore-Langton as our sound design. They added brilliantly to the emotional impact of the play with appropriate backing tracks and atmospheric lighting.
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GCSE Performances 2010
Death of a Salesman
Victoria Payne, Louis Edmanson, Elliot Keefe and Oscar Roberts knew they had a challenge ahead of them when being faced with Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman for their GCSE performance. Death of a Salesman addresses the painful conflicts within one family, but it also tackles larger issues regarding American national values. The play examines the cost of blind faith in the American Dream.
Louis Edmanson played the role of Willy Loman who was constantly striving to achieve something in his life. Louis did an outstanding job in this role and we saw his character’s mental health unravel under the pressing realities of his life. Victoria Payne was a real star as Linda Loman and the audience clearly felt for her as she struggled through Willy’s grandiose dreams and self-delusions. Both Elliot Keefe and Oscar Roberts pulled out convincing performances as the two brothers that were constantly striving to live up to the expectations that life had put upon them. All in all an outstanding performance from a young group of talented drama students.
Journey's End
Set in the trenches at Saint-Quentin, France, in 1918 towards the end of the First World War, Journey's End gives a glimpse into the experiences of the officers of a British Army infantry company in World War I. As a GCSE performance, Journey’s End was adapted to focus more upon the individual characters in the play and the emotions that they went through whilst at war.
We saw Hibbert played by Stuart Bewsey, who put across a convincing performance as a solider desperately trying to escape the war. Both James Deans-Sidgreaves and Hugo Keefe pulled out strong and at times emotional performances that clearly moved the audience. Tim Beckett played the role of Trotter with ease and Jamie Morris was outstanding as the older and wiser officer. Joe Wander came across as a clear star in the making with his portrayal of Stanhope as the audience was taken on an emotional journey through World War I.
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Matilda Liar
For our drama GCSE performance we performed Matilda Liar by Debbie Isitt. This play is about a girl who is trapped in her own fantasy world and is a compulsive liar. Her family are fed up with her and are trying to find ways to coax her out of the house to start a sensible life of her own, but she refuses to comply.
This play exaggerates the relationship between young adults and their parents, the message of the struggling tension between them is portrayed by the extreme contrast of the characters in the play. We were encouraged to engage with the stylised aspects of this play and to create characters that are exaggerated and larger than life. Mia West’s excellent costumes helped us with this. We also brought out the darker, comic aspects of the piece in Matilda’s fantasy, fairytale world which the characters also inhabit. The use of choral work at the beginning added another dimension. The audience thoroughly enjoyed the performance and the feedback was extremely positive. It was rewarding to know that friends, family and other spectators took pleasure in watching it.
My Mother Said I Never Should
For our Drama GCSE Performance, we preformed My Mother Said I Never Should by Charlotte Keatley. The play shows the relationships of three generations of women in the same family. The eldest character was called Doris (Eleanor Casley), Doris' child was Margaret (Olivia |Clark) and then Margaret's daughter was the rebellious Jackie (Ciara O’Kelly). In this play we had the opportunity of exploring different aspects of the same character and moving between naturalism and symbolism. For each of the roles we faced the challenge of distinguishing between different ages for the same character, through the use of body and voice. We were also directed to explore the relationships through physical theatre.
The use of sound, designed by Peter Swan, made the choral pieces more effective and moving. We also used sound effects to set the scenes and we used songs to show the time period.
The set was mostly bare apart from a grand piano. All other items which we used were props that we carried on and off when there was a black out after each scene.
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A2 Plays June 2009
Her Father’s Daughter An A2 adaptation of 'Hedda Gabler'
Our adaptation of Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler" used physical theatre to explore the extreme emotion hidden beneath the social correctness of 19th century society and was intended to highlight the power struggle within the social hierarchy. The charmingly fatal Hedda, played with appropriate emotional intensity by Rosie Le Page, enters into a dangerous love triangle with her academic Husband Jorgen, played by Patrick Howe, and the womanising Judge Brack, expertly played by Archie Brown. The caring Mrs Elvstead, played by Briony Deuchar, tries to save the alcoholic Ejlert Lovborg from both himself and Hedda's power hungry traps. However, this is not enough and Lovborg succumbs to Hedda's wiles. He goes back to drinking and eventually shoots himself in a fatal accident. Hedda, upon finding out that Brack plans to blackmail her with the knowledge that it was her pistol that caused Loveborg’s death, then takes her own life. Seth Richards provided us with some striking lighting.
This was our last production at Blundell's and proved one of the most challenging. With Miss Baddeley's guidance, we thoroughly enjoyed exploring the relationships between the characters and the messages within the piece, and experimenting with ways to give these exciting theatrical form. We all felt that we made a success of a difficult task and ended our drama careers at Blundell’s on a high.
Shell-shock An A2 interpretation of 'Woyzeck'
Originally set in 1837 this play explores the forces on one man’s life and how they cause his descent into madness.
For our A2 performance, which we called 'Shell Shock', we brought the play forward into the 1920's Prussia, post World War I, where many people in Eastern Europe were living in poverty and dealing with the after effects of the war.
Through our production we explore the oppressed and claustrophobic life of a soldier; Franz Woyzeck, crushed by society and the issues which plague his being: madness, deceit, adultery and murder.
On first reading this play we felt, as a group, shocked, disturbed and confused. When creating 'Shell Shock' we wanted to effectively portray the storyline whilst using elements of dance, physical theatre and circus performance. Having received feedback after the performance felt we really has captured the emotional darkness of the piece in a visually exciting performance.
Overall, we were pleased with the end performance as we felt we managed to get everything out of it that was possible. Our group worked well together with plenty of productive ideas and suggestions that helped to move the play forward. We all really enjoyed the process as it contained aspects that many of us had not explored before, including circus performance and being set 'in the round'.
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AS Play June 2009
The Trial An edited version of Steven Berkoff's play, for AS
This year’s AS performance was an edited version of Berkoff's "The Trial". Steven Berkoff's adaptation of Kafka's novel focuses on the fate of the protagonist, Joseph K, played by Guy Potter, as he struggles against the nameless forces of 'the state' that accuses him. Given the political nature of the play's message I chose to set the piece in communist Russia in the 1930's.
The actors swapped roles throughout the play from being the anonymous figures of the chorus to defined individual characters. This was very demanding as the cast was on stage all the time. The acting style pushes physicality to an extreme and sometimes to comic effect; as with Huld, played by Julian Strong, who captured, with the help of a fat suit, the hugely over-weight lawyer obsessed with eating. Titorelli, played brilliantly by Jeremy Manning, was a hightened characterisation of a stereotypical Italian and he provided the audience with some much needed comic relief. Against this background of often grotesque characters Joseph K appears normal and ordinary, and Guy Potter managed to capture the audience's sympathy as he struggled with his fate.
The talented young cast was supported by a brilliant sound design by Conor Purcell, lighting by Jake Cushway and costume by Harriet Goody. The group worked really well together and in the words of one audience member, "produced a performance that entranced the audience with the imagination, movement, pace and talent on show." Very well done to Julie Gordon, Abbie Voysey, Oscar Weedon, Mitchell Benellick et al; you were great to work with.
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GCSE Plays June 2009
The examination performances for GCSE were challenging and varied. "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" proved to be an energetic and entertaining performance with Indiana Murphy as the suitably petulant and fiery Hermia and Kristiane Wheeler as the moapsing love-lorn Helena. The boys were equally strong with Christian Gare bringing humour and energy to the role of Lysander and John Steer Fowler being suitably indignant. Jack Browne and Ellen Howe were the Charismatic Oberon and playful Puck.
Edward Bond’s "Tuesday" was the challenging text that Tessa Lomas, Louis Roscoe and Ryan McMaster performed. After an arduous rehearsal process they managed to capture the tension and violence in this dark piece of theatre. Louis conveyed the vulnerability of his character and Ryan eventually proved a menacing presence as the aggressive father while Tessa had to move from compliancy to rebellion in the space of just 15 minutes. Real tensions in the group were eventually transformed into gripping drama.
"My Mother Said I Never Should" demanded that the actors moved back and forwards between symbolism and realism while exploring the complexity of mother/daughter relationships. Alicia Fotheringham, India Harvey, Jessica Mudge and Jorjia Fletcher worked very successfully together to produce a really sensitive and mature performance that made us believe in the poignancy of a child’s emotions and struggles and tensions between different generations. After a shaky start to the rehearsal process this became an opportunity for all involved to refine and develop their acting talents and give the audience some genuinely moving dramatic moments.
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A2 Plays March 2009
Blundell's drama reached a new standard in this year's A2 performances, with two striking devised pieces.
Love Me, Love Me Not
Studying the ideas of isolation and loneliness "Love Me, Love Me Not" portrayed the issues arising from Western Cultures increasing urbanisation and the dangers of the increasing use of internet dating and chat rooms. A large part of this play's charm was the actors' ability to infuse comedic elements into such a serious topic.
Life Without Hope
Life Without Hope
"Life Without Hope" introduced Blundell's to a whole new genre of theatre, the promenade performance. This involved the audience following the actors to different venues within Ondaatje, all representing a different moment in time. This play explored the British and American penal systems when it comes to knife crime among teenagers, ending with a session of rhetorical questions provoking the audience to really think about what they had seen.
A2 Improvised Plays Dec 2008
With Western cultures at their highest rates ever and still growing, it is easy for people to get left behind and eventually become isolated from their friends and family. This can lead to depression, loneliness and the break down of normal social structures. This Christmas, who will you be spending time with?
