Past Productions House Plays, 2009/10
2009/10 House Plays: GH | NC | OH | P (NB. FH and W did not perform House Plays this year.)
Petergate No Sex Please We Are British
Having acted in two previous house plays, it was a pleasure to be able to direct this year. Apart from me, only Inigo Vyvyan has participated in a house play before, so it was wonderful to be able to give the rest of the cast their time on stage. The play, ‘No Sex Please – We’re British!’, having been performed by Petergate 6 years ago, gave us a real challenge; to not only make it funny, but better than the last performance. Having not seen it originally, and liking the plot (though the script did hamper us at times!) we set about rehearsing. The plot centres on Peter Hunter, who when a package of dodgy photos arrives at his doorstep, must do everything he can to stop his mother and his boss from seeing them. Moving from bad to worse, the play has everything from the crude humour to prostitutes (no surprise there! It’s a boy’s house!). With memorable performances from the whole cast, and a superb choice of costume – Louis Roscoe in that dress will never leave my mind!
With weeks and weeks of moaning, and stress, the final two shows flew by; with the whole cast giving their best performances. I suppose one thing that every director fears is that no one will enjoy it, but with Mr Berrow there, laughing at every joke – even after the 27th time – we all felt confident. Of course, the whole production couldn’t have happened without the help from Mr Berrow, and the Drama Department, who all gave so much to the play, and helped make it the best experience I’ll take from Blundell’s.
Old House A Day in The Life
Every year OH puts on what it hopes will be a very entertaining play, and this year was no exception. Under the direction of Hugo Trevelyan Thomas, Ed Crawford and Xan Winterton, the farce ‘A Day in the Life’ by Gary Diamond and Ray Lawrence provided humour from start to finish, giving OH the opportunity to show their comic acting talent. All the actors would join us in saying, albeit with some ups and downs, that they had a brilliant time both “rehearsing” and performing. The final product was a great, well received success and was enjoyed by both parents and pupils alike.
John Steer-Fowler took on the leading role of Mortimer with great enthusiasm and was well supported by cast members such as Cam Grainger and Charlie Craddock. The whole cast put their all into the performances and for this, as well as their hard work during the preceding months we thank them.
North Close No Man's Land
As usual NC performed the first house play of the year by performing “No Man’s Land” at the end of the winter term. With almost daily practices, an actor being struck down with appendicitis just a week and a half before the performance and ordering at McDonalds in our characters accents; the play was bound to be a success. In the play, when a lone male (Sarah Malcolm) washes up on a desterted island, where a group of over 30 women have lived marooned for the last twenty years, the competition for him begins; the consequences for which rip the island’s regime apart and drive their only chance of survival away.
Jess Muirhead was particularly convincing as the naive, geeky, lisping 19 years old and Flora Dickenson excelled as the boring, middle age, suck up ex-nurse. And with Miss Baddeley saying that it was the best characterisation in a house play she had seen, it seems that the director Indiana Murphy did a fantastic job.
Gorton House A Small Affair
In May 2010, the cast of the GH play came together to perform, finally, the greatly anticipated ‘A Small Affair’. The classic play-within-a-play storyline followed a group of actors through a day in rehearsals, with characters ranging from a huffy Hollywood diva, to a desperately drunk old man, all with the aim of finishing the awful television drama in one piece. The actors, directed by a useless yet enthusiastic director, Guy, were, however, disrupted may times, from strangers including Harry the electrician, a group of love-sick old ladies, Ron the confused security guard, a crazy singing cleaner, and many more unexpected visitors. Eventually, the drama was cut, so that the actors were left, once again, jobless.
The play was a refreshing start to the term for both cast and directors, and succeeded in showcasing some of GH’s finest; Ciara O’Kelly played Terry, a raging alcoholic, rather too convincingly, and Laura Bennett’s debut as Harry was also hilarious. The cast managed to include an array of accents, and several passing references to Doctor Who, all of which were laughed at and, thankfully, applauded. Other mentions must go to Lydia Cree, Alex MacBean, Amelia Young and Ellie Hedley-Dent, along with the rest of the (very large) cast, who were all fantastic. The directors were Aggie Clark and Steph McKelvey, who both thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and will always remember the hilarious costumes and make-up.
* * * * *
Past Productions House Plays, 2008/09
2008/09 House Plays: FH | GH | NC | OH | P | W
Petergate Look, No Hans!
As a newcomer to Petergate and a keen drama student, I was delighted to have the opportunity to co-direct a house play. My fellow directors, Hugh McDowell and Julian Strong, however, did present themselves to be budding actors and thus I was left with the ominous prospect of directing a group of new friends.
Searching Blundell’s Drama archives, I discovered Look, No Hans! An archetypal farce involving mistresses, a stripper, a formidable wife, American, Japanese and British spies, and amid all the chaos Peter Fisher, a British agent (Jack Brown) who does his best to placate the whole disaster.
Directing the play was a pleasure throughout, even though it was possibly the most stressful few weeks of my life. Learning lines with Ed Jolley across the phone in the holidays, discouraging the construction of the most ridiculous cleavages and of course, denying my highly professional cast to play ping pong when not on stage in rehearsal (our games room doubled as our stage throughout rehearsal), all contributed to the great relief of hearing the first laugh on the opening night (thanks Mr Berrow!).
The drama department I owe a huge amount of thanks for their watchful advice on what, however miraculously, came to be entertaining and enjoyable performances.
Gorton House The Happiest Days of Your Life
"Mens Sana In Thingummy Doodah"
This was a story of trials and tribulations in a health farm. Victoria is dragged along to "Pinkneys Hydro Clinic" by an ambitious Lil, who is keen to trim and tone in attempt to her married man, Marcus, divorce his wife. The team of 'dedicated professionals' - Judy and Dana - keep the guests to a strict diet and fitness regime. Owner of the Clinic, Nicola, meanwhile has a dark secret!
Francis House Up 'n' Under
The rich and successful manager of the Cobblers arms, the most feared side in the Northern pub seven-a-side league, persuades Arthur to become involved in a seemingly hopeless bet to train a team of deadbeats, The Wheatsheaf, to play against his team. Arthur readily accepts the challenge before realizing what a mammoth uphill struggle it would be! A chance meeting with Hazel Scott, a fitness instructor with her own gym, gives him an idea and between them they have just five weeks to persuade, cajole and bully the reluctant, drunken layabouts of the Wheatsheaf into a team capable of beating the Cobblers Arms, something which hasn't been done for ten tears. Will they be able to do it?
Old House Up The Garden Path
When Susan agreed to be on the end of the phone for Marie during Dale's Question Time, she thought she would be a help. But she didn't give the right answer and now Marie's husband, Kenny wants Susan and Trevor to cough up the Sixty thousand pounds she didn't win...
This journey of debt, despair and botanical romance leaves Trevor stuck Up the Garden path...
Westlake Batman
Westlake's first play since 2004 was a hilarious, bizarre and camp homage to the 1966 television series "Batman". This adaptation, written and directed by Robin Hill with the help of Theo Weedon, showed the dynamic duo Batman and Robin fighting against the villains of the United Underworld, The Joker, The Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman and Poison Ivy.
North Close Hard Candy
North Close kicked off the house play season with "Hard Candy". This delightful short comedy was set in 'Banff Enterprises' in which desperate job applicants try to fight their way up the corporate ladder. In a number of strange and unpredictable interviews, applicants use anything and everything to try to reach the top, including a seductive, pouting French man and even the simple secretary becoming an accidental murderer.
