Drama students Give the Park Life

Lower School Drama students performed an open-air, devised mask production – Give the Park Life – last week. The energetic ensemble delighted the audience with its simple message; when communities come together, incredible things happen.

Faced with the neglected local park being lost due to a planning application, the local community joins forces to clear up the park and take advantage of the outside space; engaging in a variety of activities from a nature trail to tai chi. They find a love of the outdoors and fondness for each other along the way, and the show concludes with a celebration as the planning is overturned in the final scene.

The mask production showcased some fantastic characterisation from its cast of talented actors, which resulted in this comedy having some audience members unexpectedly moved to tears at the end.

Ms Esther Roberts, Head of Drama, said: “This has been such a wonderful experience. The process of devising with the girls to create original story-lines, characters and scenes has been so much fun. The girls were so professional on the show nights, dealing with about 150 props seamlessly and showing incredible team effort. I really am a bit sad to say goodbye to these endearing characters we’ve come to know and love.”

Spectators of the show said: "I thoroughly enjoyed the performance… really good for the soul! The masks were such great ‘enablers’ for the students who did themselves proud."

"I really enjoyed the wonderful performances from the girls last night. We could see all their hard work, and Ms Roberts', for this production. The music worked so well with the individual pieces and for a production with no spoken words, the interpretation by the students was excellent."

Click here to view the photographs from the day.