Drama and Theatre

What a week we have had in Drama and Theatre! Students are busily preparing for the upcoming Gala Arts in the Theatre category, our Theatresports Senior Team placed Second and will perform at the Enmore Theatre! Our IB Theatre students engaged in immersive and practical theatre workshops from international specialists and our Year 12 HSC students are preparing for their upcoming Drama showcase – we hope to see you at our upcoming performances at the Enmore Theatre (Senior Theatresports) and the Drama Studio (HSC Drama). We are also thrilled to announce auditions for our upcoming Redlands play in Term 4, auditions for Years 10 and 11 students, information below.

Theatresports Team – Grand Final at the Enmore Theatre!

A huge congratulations to our Senior Theatresports Team who competed against 8 schools at the Theatresports Schools Challenge Semi-Finals and placed Second! They will now perform at the Grand Final at the Enmore Theatre, this is an exceptional achievement.

The students in the team are: Phoebe Barnett (Yr 12), Claudia Lalich (Yr 12), Hallie Hunt (Yr 11), Sholto Mirrlees-Black (Yr 11).

Thank you to the Theatresports teachers, Sarah Sparkes and Amber Virtue for doing such an outstanding job in training our students.

The Grand Final is on Sunday 18 June, 5:30pm at the Enmore Theatre if you would like to come along. We encourage team Redlands to support our amazing Improvisers for what will be a very entertaining show!

enmoretheatre.com.au/event/theatresports-schools-challenge-grand-final/

“On Monday night, the Senior Theatresports Team and I competed at the inter-school Theatresports competition for the semi-final round. This competition required student-led teams from across Sydney to compete in four rounds of Theatresports games, where we were judged on the entertainment, narrative, and the structural value of our improvised performances. Hallie, Sholto, Phoebe and I were able to bind together and perform the strongest we ever have, with the highlight of the night being our Round 4 Broadway Musical performance where we scored 15/15! This helped us place 2^nd overall, and meant we were the first Redlands team, since 2018, to progress to the Grand Final round of the competition! I am so immensely proud of our team for continuing to remain optimistic, enthusiastic and passionate throughout each moment during the competition – irrespective of how we felt the scene was going, or how well we scored. I truly felt that being part of a group dynamic as such, was more of a privilege than our resulting place in the competition.” (By Claudia Lalich, Theatre Captain).

Redlands Play Announcement – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Zenith Theatre, 2- 4 November 2023 (Performance Dates)
Directed by Artist in Residence Christopher Tomkinson
Produced by Ms Sweetman
Director/Artist in Residence

We are excited to have a special artist in residence Christopher Tomkinson. Christopher has worked as an actor, director, producer and writer in theatre, radio, TV and film. He has worked with Sport for Jove in over a dozen productions, and performed with STC, Bell Shakespeare, Monkey Baa, Sydney Opera House, CDP, Ensemble, Pinchgut Opera, and in the musical Eureka. He has improvised stories for audiences all over Australia, taught theatre classes for ages 2 – 80 from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Tasmania, his play, The Orphan’s Orchard, has been published by Cambridge University Press and he is the director of the Shakespeare Carnival, a NSW wide performance opportunity for high school students. Chris grew up at ATYP, graduated WAAPA, studied in London and Paris with Philippe Gaulier and Pantheatre through an ATYP/ Lend Lease Scholarship and has been a proud member of Equity since 1985.

Summary

In one of the most famous of literary love quadrangles, A Midsummer Night’s Dream tells the tale of Hermia, Demetrius, Lysander, and Helena, four misguided lovers whose journey into the woodlands then in even more trouble, as members of the fairy kingdom decide to use them as veritable pawns in their own love games. Against the backdrop of the wedding of Duke Theseus and Hippolyta, and the fiery battle of wills between the Fairy King and Queen, Oberon and Titania, the four lovers are challenged by magic and trickery to finally work out what love is all about.

Audition Information

Play Application Form and Commitment Contract

Yr 12 HSC Drama Individual Project Showcase

The Year 12 HSC Drama Individual Project Showcase is taking place on Monday 19 June at 6:30pm in the Drama Studio. The students will present their costume designs, video drama and also 6-8 minute individual performances, we warmly invite you to attend.

HSC Drama Students 2023

Hugo McKay, Helena Dracakis, Georgia Verschoor, Lily Kneale, Alex Tully, Lachlan Dekker, Bella Zeppel, Alex Scotting, Keian Murphy, Forest Wilkes, Phoebe Barnett, Elke Mueller, Sebastian Tang

Cocurricular Photos for Drama

On Monday the 5 of June, all students in the following Cocurricular clubs are to go to Fahl Garden for their photo as a group, they are required at 9:55am. Please bring your student ID Card with you.

Senior Acting Years 7-12

Senior Theatresports 10-12

Senior Theatresports 9-12

Production

Yr 11 and 12 IB Theatre Workshops – Commedia

“Last week, the Year 11 and 12 IB theatre classes had the privilege of attending a Commedia Dell’arte workshop by Dr Chiara as part of our world theatre study. In this three-hour workshop, we not only learned about the detailed history of commedia and its stock characters, but also the movement styles, training techniques and the iconic masks. Commedia Dell’arte originated in Italy in the 16th century and had a large emphasis on physical theatre and the actors using their body to create stories. Commedia utilises improvisation constructed within a framework of stock situations, masks, audience interaction and stock characters to parallel the social hierarchy at the time and create comedy. We learnt that since the commedia hierarchy reflected the European social hierarchy of the time, characters like the Zannis, the servants, who were the lowest class, would have a low stance and hunched back due to their laborious jobs of farm work and heavy lifting, and their main objective would be obtaining food. During our session, we learned about all these stock characters and the different masks they use, along with the unusual body movements, walks, and stances, like Zannis low stance, hunched back. I highly recommend watching one of Dr Chiara’s videos online, as she is knowledgeable and engaging, to understand the complexity of this theatre style and the work that goes into physically creating all the characters.” By Eva Osborn, Yr 11 IB Theatre Student

Drama Student of the Week: Agnes Anderson

By Sebastian Tang (Arts Captain)

We are delighted to present Agnes Anderson, a Year 6 student, with the Drama Student of the Week award. This notice is written with heartfelt appreciation and immense joy as we celebrate her exceptional qualities of kindness and her remarkable ability to collaborate effortlessly with anyone. Agnes continues to show Redlands values of respect and kindness in both one-on-one interactions and group collaborations, making her a deserving recipient of this recognition. Keep up the great work Agnes!

Interested in Drama

If you are interested in joining Drama at any stage during the year, including Private Tuition, Acting classes, Musical Theatre, Filmmaking or our Production teams, P-12, please do not hesitate to contact drama@redlands.nsw.edu.au.

Click on Pulse for an outline of all Drama classes.

PREP DRAMA PULSE

JUNIOR DRAMA PULSE

SECONDARY DRAMA PULSE

Ms Tamara Sweetman
Coordinator of Theatre and Drama
drama@redlands.nsw.edu.au