Drama and Theatre

A Portrait of the Fabulous 2024 Year 12 Drama and Theatre Cohort

Seated: Scarlett Ilic, Andrew Kinghorn, Grace Durrant, William Algar, Isla Dawson-Damer, Charli Waterland
Middle Row: Zara Naismith, Olivia Everingham, Amelia Barter, Alexandra Tanner, Jay Sefton, Tom Wright, Hannah Jones-Way, Eva Osborn
Back Row: Hallie Hunt, James Stuart, Tristan Minassian, Max Rossiter, Hugo Little

So Long Year 12 and Thanks for All The Fish!

This week as part of the very long goodbye I heard many speeches with well considered phrasing and beautifully articulated sentiment. I thought what a wonderful place Redlands is – and to be fair this is a sentiment that has been expressed to me in the past two weeks on many occasions. In this vein I began to reflect on the journey the students in HSC Drama and IB Theatre have had this year and thought I might share some highlights.

In the first Term of HSC the Year 12s performed a brilliant range of Performance essays, guided by their incredible teacher, Ms Marita Jansons. The work was sophisticated and intelligent and reflected their depth of understanding, using the texts Stolen and Neighbourhood Watch. The second Topic, Approaches to Acting we saw them apply theory from Jacques Lecoq, Levels of tension and the Poetic Body and Versold Meyerhold, Biomechanics. Meantime they were all busy working on the Individual Projects, with all of the cohort, with the exception of one student selected to do a monologue, and Hannah selecting costume design using the iconic Friedrich Durrenmatt text, The Visit. In the final term, students mastered the Group Project creating work of a very high standard, again reflecting their skills and knowledge. As Acting Subject Coordinator this year, I have had the great pleasure of seeing these amazing humans grow in spirit and strength as their pieces developed and their collaborative Drama journey progressed. They are an amazing group of students who certainly excelled in the final weeks with 7 nominations across Group and Individual Projects definitely being something to be very proud of. To get the students across that finish line we have offered a workshop on Australian Contemporary Theatre Practice which will be held on 11 October. I am looking forward to running it as Ms Jansons is taking long service leave, a very well-deserved break.

On the other side of the academic fence this year I have had the great pleasure of guiding the IB Theatre cohort through their course. A very different journey to their HSC peers.

The year started with the Production Proposal where the students act as creator and director using a playscript of their choice to create an imagined production. We had a fabulous range of plays and students tested their work by running workshops in class for each other. Following this we launched into the Collaborative Project that was probably one of the highlights for me in the year. All three groups were of such a high standard and used the work of physical theatre experts like Jacques Lecoq, Vesold Meyerhold, Frantic Assembly, Complicité and Gecko as their guide. Academic rigour comes into play here as they have to not only act and collaboratively devise but they also have to direct and design the 10-minute performance. The students did not disappoint with sophisticated work in the form of three very bespoke performances. The students then launched into the World Theatre Traditions Research Task with diversity coming in the form of Noh, Kabuki, Commedia and Peking Opera. Tracing the footsteps of practice and applying this to theory was a very strong element of this task and many hours were spent trying to move from novice to (almost) expert(s). However, the absolute highlight of the IB Course for me this year was definitely the Solo Theatre Piece. There were some magnificent performances and for those of us lucky enough to sit in the Drama Studio over the two nights and see the incredible camaraderie with students from all across the Year 12 cohort, it was a magical experience. The strength of the work was not just in the vulnerability of the beautiful nuanced performances but also in the incredible intestinal fortitude to apply theory in practice, some of the most remarkable, challenging and sophisticated pieces I have seen in some 15 years of teaching the IB. A workshop will also be held for IB students on 11 October to finalise their reports for the Solo.

I personally would like to thank the Drama and Theatre Captains, Olivia Everingham and James Stuart, whose absolute can-do attitude, brilliant selfless actions, warmth, charm and talents will be greatly missed, you raise up the subjects with integrity and intelligence. Thank you both so very much, you have been a huge support to the Drama and Theatre Department this year. It also goes without saying what a phenomenal job the Arts Captains have done on the bigger school arena across all of the Arts, the remarkable triple threat Ms Hallie Hunt, and formidable Sholto Mirrlees-Black – thank you – you have created very large shoes that are going to be difficult to fill.

We have a range of students who have applied to Performing Arts courses at various universities for 2025, such as NIDA, WAPPA and VCA, but not all are for acting. Charli Waterland has created a remarkable portfolio and worked tirelessly to prepare a thoughtful and sophisticated submission, and whilst it is unusual for NIDA to take students straight from school I thoroughly encourage them all to continue to reach out for their dreams and don’t stop believing or as Eva said, “Dream Big”, and find a place where you can continue to thrive.

Again, many I please offer my congratulations to this graduating cohort, to the many hours of hard work and collaboration that certainly seems to have paid dividends. We are not raising a troupe of actors, but rather I think we have been very successful in contributing to the formation of some very well-rounded empathetic 21st century leaders. Bravo!

I would also like to thank the Drama and Theatre staff, past and present, along with the incredible band of Tutors led by Ms Virtue, who have also taken this journey with you all, and all contributed in some ways to the success of these students: Ms Jansons, Mr Gidney, Ms Lamb, Ms Sparke, Ms Whitmore, Ms Novis and Mr Hawkins.

Please put the 8 November in your diaries for the Drama Celebration Night to be held in Redlands Hall; it will represent a cross section of work from Year 3 (Extra Curricular) all the way to Year 12.

Have a restful break.

Kathryn Smith
Acting Subject Coordinator of Drama & Theatre
ksmith@redlands.nsw.edu.au