Co-curricular Drama at Gresham’s aims to produce imaginative, challenging and rewarding experiences for both our audience and the pupils involved onstage, backstage and front of house.
We are fortunate in having a very well-equipped and versatile space in The Auden Theatre which is home to the Drama Department and is both an extraordinary teaching space for the academic courses we offer and a wonderful venue for our own productions and the wider school community. We have three main theatre productions during the year including a lower school production when year 9 and 10 take centre stage, a senior production of a play or a musical open to all students and then in the summer we go to our beautiful outdoor Theatre in the Woods for a varied evening of Drama and Dance to herald in the summer. Alongside these core performances we run a series of smaller scale productions including regular Page to Stage evenings to showcase a range of work chosen by the students, our unsettling outdoor promenade FrightNight and the amazing Ten-Minute Play Competition where students write an original play then produce, direct and act creating an extraordinary range of new writing from comedy to domestic tragedy. This year we are excited to include an opportunity to take part in the Shakespeare Film Competition, the first of our productions by our newly formed Audeneers (students with a passion for all things theatre) a showcase evening for LAMDA students and the welcome return of our Sixth Form play following two incredible original productions last year. This is all in addition to our A level and IB Theatre and GCSE Drama exam performances making the department a busy, diverse and exciting place to be.
Each year a large number of pupils participate in the co-curricular drama programme which offers experience of theatre both on stage and behind the scenes. For many taking part main in a school production is a real highlight of their time at Gresham’s and an essential part of the Gresham’s experience. Pupils have the opportunity to take centre stage in the Auden and perform as a principal or a member of a committed ensemble or become an essential part of our backstage team. Drama productions have included The 39 Steps, Around the World in 80 Days, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Government Inspector and most recently Find Me. Musicals have included Sweet Charity, We Will Rock You, Little Shop Of Horrors, Phantom of the Opera and most recently Amelie.
Our pupils take responsibility for every aspect of production from the hospitality of our Front of House stewards to the unsung heroes of our production teams specialising in design, technical and stage management who, under the supervision of our professional technical team, gain the confidence and skills to produce the set and props, help with costume and make-up, operate the lighting and projections and run sound or work in the wings as crew.
The Auden Theatre is a professional and versatile venue for our own productions but we are also a recognised mid-scale receiving house and one of the key venues, alongside our beautiful Theatre in the Woods, for the Holt Festival. The range, scale and variety of performances to which our pupils have access throughout the year is developing providing an extra artistic and cultural dimension to their term time experience.
Participation in co-curricular Drama is very popular with large casts and crews signing up for the productions and pupils making the most of the opportunities offered. As influential theatre practitioner Bertolt Brecht famously said, theatre “Is work not magic my friend” but the rewards are undeniable and though we work hard in rehearsal, we play hard too. Former pupils from the last ten years are currently studying at the Central School of Speech and Drama, RADA, LAMDA and Arts Ed. From the extraordinary high-profile career of award winning actress Olivia Colman to the innovative successes of Curious Directive led by Greshamian director Jack Lowe Greshamians are actively making their mark, telling stories and getting their voices heard as actors on stage and film, producers and playwrights, technicians, stage managers and designers.
“Gresham’s, in many ways made me the person I am today. It was the first place I ever acted. Crucially, it was the first place I wanted to act. Perhaps I wouldn’t have been an actor at all if it weren’t for Gresham’s.”
OLIVIA COLMAN, ACADEMY AWARD WINNER
(OAKeLEY, 1992)
