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 pupils. Last year, our senior production was the Agatha Christie’s Court Room Drama Witness for the Prosecution and our musical was Amelie. In the summer, we venture out to our beautiful outdoor Theatre in the Woods for an evening of entertainment. Last year, our outdoor production was Tom Stoppard’s fabulous farce The Real Inspector Hound.
Alongside these core performances, we present a series of smaller scale productions. We run regular Page to Stage evenings to showcase a range of work chosen by the pupils, our unsettling outdoor promenade experience, FrightNight, and the amazing Ten-Minute Play Competition where pupils write an original play then produce, direct and act to create an extraordinary range of new writing – from comedy, to domestic tragedy. Last year, we took part in the Schools Shakespeare Film Festival, creating modern versions of Shakespeare’s plays, and launched ‘the Audeneers’ to give pupils with a passion for theatre opportunities both on stage and behind the scenes. We also introduced a new showcase evening for LAMDA pupils and welcomed the return of our Sixth Form play, which showcases original writing and directing talent.
All of this complements our BTEC Performing Arts 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 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, either as principal performers or dedicated ensemble members, or to play a vital role behind the scenes as 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, Find Me, Education, Education, Education, and this year, Lord of the Flies. Musicals have included Sweet Charity, We Will Rock You, Little Shop of Horrors, Phantom of the Opera, Amelie, The Last Five Years, and this year, Les Misérables.
“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)
