GCSE & A Level Drama Performances

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We have recently had our GCSE Drama performances. Lauren Sudders played an excellent Hamlet in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged, an amusing take on the bard’s work. All of the other performances were completely original devised pieces created by the students. The topics covered this year included Air France, Flight 447, The Billericay Boys; a stunning play about what it was like for the local lads to be on the front line during World War 1, Tejas Verdas; a play about General Pinochet’s detention and torture centre and The Seven Deadly Sins. The students were examined by a visiting examiner and performed to a packed audience in DR1.



Two weeks later it was the turn of the Sixth Form Drama students. They are required to perform an extract from a published play and a monologue before an examiner and live audience. The play performed this year was Top Girls. Written by one of Britain’s most important playwrights, Caryl Churchill, the play is set during the Thatcher 80s and explores the price of success for women who want to make it to the top of the corporate ladder. The central character, Marlene, invites Top Girls from history and art to join her in celebrating her promotion to Managing Director. As the play evolves, we discover that the price for Marlene’s success is the sacrifice of bringing up her baby daughter who she left with her sister. The pictures below are of the fantasy dinner party.