Enthusiastic performances from Key Stage 3 pupils
Key Stage 3 finished the half-term in real style with no less than twelve fine performances as part of Rydal Penrhos’ Junior Inter-House Drama competition on the afternoon of Thursday 16 February.
The final days of a term or half-term are always an exciting time for pupils, parents and staff at Rydal Penrhos. With several weeks of consistent hard work and dedication in the bank, pupils can happily reflect on a job well done and enjoy some of the brilliantly fun activities that serve as highlights to be looked forward to on the school calendar.
The recent Junior Inter-House Drama competition was a perfect example of this. As part of a captivating afternoon of theatricality, in each of Years 7 to 9 the four school houses – Osborn, Morgan, Payne and Wesley – competed to see whose acting skills would shine brightest and prevail on the big stage.
There was a real buzz in the school’s Memorial Hall in the moments before Miss Earle welcomed an audience of pupils, teachers, staff and parents. Miss Earle introduced the visiting judge for the day, someone who is very familiar to our pupils; Mrs Jennie Keeler, a former Rydal Penrhos English teacher, who the children were thrilled to see once again.
Mrs Keeler and the rest of the audience were treated to a host of wonderful performances. First up were Year 8 and Morgan House specifically, whose performance of the ‘Government Inspector’, a piece involving an over-worried town and a hilarious case of mistaken identity, was commended for its display of teamwork and exaggerated characters. They were immediately followed by Payne, who performed an extract from the classic ‘Blood Brothers’, and in doing so demonstrated some impressive choral speaking, as part of a lively performance.
Environmental consciousness is something that continues to grow more prevalent in school as the issue becomes an increasingly important fixture of modern life. Wesley brought this concern to their performance of ‘The Tree’, which was commended for a strong sense of story and inventive use of cardboard boxes to create the titular tree. Osborn then closed out the Year 8 performances with their performance of ‘DNA’, which received praise for its convincing characters, particularly in the form of the gang leader figure at the heart of the piece.
Not to be outdone, Year 9 quickly followed up, beginning with Morgan once again. Their performance of ‘Dead Zone’ was notable for the inclusion of a face that will be familiar to many pupils, parents and alumni; Mr Farnell! Covering for a pupil absence, the long-serving Rydal Penrhos teacher brought his talents to a performance complimented for the comedy of its contrasting conversations. Osborn, meanwhile, excellently utilised space in their performance of ‘Friends'.
Issues of family life appear at the heart of countless classic stories and Payne brought their own unique spin to the subject in ‘Unidentical Twins’; Mrs Keeler lauded the clear delivery of the actors involved. The trend of strong characterisation continued into the Wesley performance, in which Mr Farnell made his second appearance of the night, taking part in some of the fun dancing that was a highlight of ‘Teen Night’.
Last but not least were Year 7, who brought some familiar classics to life. Three houses chose extracts from ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’; Wesley began with the infamous scene in which Charlie tells his parents and grandparents that he has miraculously discovered one of the select Wonka’s Golden Tickets. There were some outstanding performances, including a strong portrayal of Charlie from Ella Payne and excellent choral speaking from the grandparents.
Morgan followed up with the scene where Augustus Gloop falls victim to his own gluttony; the pupils cleverly created the river of chocolate using brown cloth and the famous Willy Wonka character was vividly realised in some very sparkly costume! Along a similar theme, Osborn rendered the scene where Violet famously turns violet with a palpable sense of liveliness and good fun.
Drawing the afternoon to a close, Payne took a trip down the Yellow Brick Road as they brought the ‘Wizard of Oz’ to the Memorial Hall stage. Mrs Keeler was particularly impressed by Payne’s effective use of multi-role narrators and clever deployment of props. Fans of the source material will be glad to hear that the costuming included the famous ruby slippers that are so integral to the story.
It was a strong end to a wonderful hour and a half of drama. Mrs Keeler had the unenviable task of having to separate the performances. The difficulty of her job was demonstrated by the fact that, after Year 8 and 9 had performed, the scores were tied between all four houses! After much deliberation, at the end of the afternoon, the final scores for Key Stage 3 stood as follows:
Morgan - 50
Osborn - 54
Payne - 54
Wesley - 55
Congratulations to Wesley for proving victorious in the Junior competition, and to all houses for their incredible efforts. It should be noted, however, that the overall winner of Inter-House Drama this year will be determined by the combination of both the Junior and Senior competitions. We look forward to revealing the final outcome when we share our next update on Drama at Rydal Penrhos, which will include some exciting news about events parents should mark in their calendar for later this year.
A huge thank you to all involved on stage; particularly Mr Farnell and Year 12 pupil Fayeth Jones, who stood in where needed and gave their all. Off stage, we would like to thank Mrs Keeler for being an excellent judge, Miss Earle for organising this fantastic event, and all the parents who took the time to show their support.
