Drama

Drama is a popular extra-curricular activity at Queen Elizabeth’s School, with a wide variety of opportunities for different age groups.

Our annual Lower School Production in April is a highlight of the year and achieves very high standards. The build-up begins with auditions at the end of September for boys in Years 7, 8 and 9. Team work is an essential skill in drama, and boys who take part in the production learn a great deal about working together outside of the classroom. The rehearsals can be gruelling and time-consuming, but this also brings benefits: many boys gain valuable experience in focus and discipline outside of the academic arena. The production also affords our younger boys an excellent opportunity to engage with Sixth Form directors and producers, who provide impressive role models.

Our Year 7 and 8 annual drama competitions were established to allow a wide range of boys to experience drama without necessarily having to make the full commitment of participation in the school production. A drama captain is appointed in each form to cast and direct his own cast, with each form given the same scene from a script. Recent examples include a scene from Philip Pullman’s adaptation of ‘Frankenstein’ , one from the stage adaptation of ‘Kes’ and a scene from Willy Russell’s ‘Our Day Out’. Form teams work for a half-term to prepare the performance. Weekly lunchtime rehearsals are held in Drama Club: there is thus no after-school commitment. At the end of the half-term, each form performs their interpretation of the script and a winner is chosen.

The ‘artsdepot’ project for Year 10 is a recently established partnership project with the innovative theatre of the same name in Finchley. It provides an opportunity for a number of Year 10 boys to work with professional actors, directors and technicians. Boys take part in a week of workshops both in school time and after school. The week culminates in a performance at the theatre.