Clifton College Website

Drama and Dance

Director of Drama
Mrs Karen Pickles BA (Hons), BEd (Hons), NPQH
Teachers
Mrs Jody Lewarne BA (Hons), LRAD, PGCE:DT, QTS Mr William Corrie BA (Hons)

Download our Lent Term 2013 newsletter

Summer 2013

As we welcome the summer term and the sunshine with it, we immediately set to work on the 3rd and 4th form pupils' Junior Production of Treasure Island which will be performed at the Redgrave Theatre on 22nd May and 23rd May at 7.30 pm. Tickets will be available from 1st May by emailing kpickles@clifton-college.avon.sch.uk from that date.

Later in the term, we begin a mammoth week of rehearsals to out on an outdoor production of Macbeth which follows in the footsteps of Romeo and Juliet last year. Our hope is that the weather will be kind to us and allow is to perform this production in dry weather, as opposed to last year when the pupils performed in an absolute downpour and were hair-dried as they left the stage! The cast is complete and ready to go but exams come first and when these are completed we will have six days in which to put the production together! We do hope you will come along and watch - tickets will be available from 1/6 from Karen Pickles.

Before we can consider these productions, though, the Fifth Form has to perform their scripted performances on 26th April for the GCSE examiner and this will be performed in The Chateau.

The return of the Junior Production comes this May and will be performed on the Wednesday and Thursday (22nd May and 23rd May) of the Commem week. The production will be Treasure Island which was first produced by the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company and we are very privileged to have the opportunity to put this production on in the Redgrave Theatre.

The Third and Fourth form pupils will be performing in this production and will have support from their peers and older pupils on the technical front. The Music Department, thanks to Dan Robson, have composed the music which will be used and will be performing this live on stage during the performances.

The Drama Department and the Music Department combine once again the talent of their pupils and are both looking forward to this production and the opportunity of working together again.

Lent Term 2013

The Lent term was certainly the busiest we have ever known. It started with the exciting House Play Festival which was a resounding success and awards were given in the annual Awards Ceremony.

This was very quickly followed by performance evenings for the A level work and then for the GCSE work. Both of these performance evenings were set up in the new dance studio in The Avenue (above North and South Town in the Pre).

Thanks to Keifer Spencer who worked many hours setting up the dance studio to have full lighting rig and staging facilities, the A level pupils were able to use sound effects, complicated lighting plots and staging. Parents and friends were invited for the first time to see these exciting performances and whilst this was a complicated evening, technically, for Keifer to manage all in all everyone was very appreciative and the outcome was very pleasing. The AS pupils worked on scripted work linked to their chosen practitioner and the A2 pupils worked on a devised piece of creative adaptation from the book Perfume. The following day, the actual moderation took place and all went well and the results were very good overall. The written coursework was handed in too and now the focus for all the 6th form is on their written exam paper later in the summer.

The GCSE 5th form pupils performed their devised pieces for their parents and friends and their work was based on the exam board's theme of 'Nightmare'. They used costume, lighting and staging which really showed their performances off very well and our fingers a tightly crossed that the exam board has enjoyed watching these performances and has appreciated the written work that went with the practical. The 4th form performed excerpts from The Crucible and had the opportunity of watching the 5th form's work which had inspired them.

The work did not stop there, we also had both Dance GCSE and A level practical pupils and these works were beautifully choreographed and performed by the pupils. The results of these exams are not known at present but the performance work was outstanding and we are hopeful of very good results.

All the pupils and staff involved in this work through the Lent term faced the holidays with enthusiasm and a chance to unwind ready for another exciting term ahead with more practical and performance work.

Michaelmas Term 2012

Drama and Dance at Clifton has taken on in the Michaelmas Term one of the most exciting challenges with The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical which has been performed on the West End for the last 26 years). It was a successful production with all the pyrotechnics and special effects of the professional version. The chandelier fell, the Phantom disappeared, a 1 metre height fire was ‘thrown’ at Raoul and Christine as they escaped and the Phantom flicked flame to free Raoul. The audience responded with “a standing ovation of 6 minutes not seen in the Redgrave Theatre in the 20 years I have been involved in Clifton College” (said Dr. R. Acheson, previous Headmaster of the Prep School who enjoyed the last night performance).

This production has ensured pupils were highly challenged but faced their task with enthusiasm and passion. We are now looking at the first stages of preparing to raise funds for an exciting new phase for the department – a Performing Arts Centre with a fully fitted theatre. This is something that the department has needed for a very long time and the Director of Development, Mr Jeremy Pickles, has now been given the task to put this in motion. We are hoping the Performing Arts Centre will include dance and drama studios, performance areas, foyer bar and coffee areas, film and media suites and perhaps even a radio station along with, of course, a new look theatre with larger wings, scene dock and much more.

We are in our third year of offering Dance GCSE and A Level and this has proved very successful with more than 18 girls and boys enjoying this opportunity. PCert LAM (the LAMDA professional certificate for Drama and performance work) is now in its fifth year and there have been more than 16 boys and girls who have taken this qualification, which equates to the first year of an undergraduate course in academic level. This qualification is especially of interest to those keen on studying English Literature at university as it studies literary figures in the 20th Century and looks in depth at political and social history of the time.

During the year we have professional theatrical, film and media personalities in to discuss careers in theatre, film and the media industries – not just acting but directing, commercial business, management and production. If you are interested in an exciting subject, which inspires and offers so much more than you would expect – come and visit us!

For further details on all aspects of the Drama and Dance Department, please choose from the following list:

• News
• Drama Academic and Co-curricular
• Dance Academic and Co-Curricular
• LAMDA
• Clifton-based Holiday Courses 2012
• School Productions
• House Play Festival Week
• Redgrave Theatre

Phantom of the Opera

Kosi Carter from Hallward's House, writes a blog about our school productions. Here she writes about the Phantom of the Opera rehearsals and performances:

NEW Blog 3 The Phantom of the Opera: A Workshop with Glyn Kerslake, by Kosi Carter, Hallward's House
Blog 2 The Phantom of the Opera, by Kosi Carter, Hallward's House
Blog 1 The Phantom of the Opera, by Kosi Carter, Hallward's House

Please enjoy the following gallery of stills taken from The Phantom of the Opera.

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