The School Play traditionally staged at the end of the Spring Term is QE’s major annual drama production.

Groups of pupils and staff work together intensively to put on a theatrical spectacular performed to a high standard before a large audience of parents and friends of the School.

There is great diversity in the productions that have been staged in recent years. School Play audiences have been treated to works as contrasting as Treasure Island – a rollicking voyage through Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale of adventure on the high seas – to H G Wells’ science fiction stories, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The War of the Worlds, with their foreboding and dystopian view of the future. Productions have taken on contemporary societal issues, such as the boys’ powerful performance of The Jungle, an acclaimed play about the Calais migrant camp from the perspective of its residents.

The School Play typically offers roles for boys of all ages, enabling QE’s experienced actors from the senior years to help and inspire Lower School pupils. There are also plenty of opportunities for those who prefer to stay out of the footlights’ glare, from direction and work with sound and lighting, to playing in the musical ensembles that accompany the action on stage.