Drama and Theatre
Drama Celebration Night
6pm Redlands Hall tomorrow – Friday 8 November
Norm & Ahmed by Alex Buzo: Professional Performance
Today we were privileged to see Laurence Coy and Rajan Velu perform Norm and Ahmed in our very own drama studio! The play is an Australian classic, written and set in the late 1960s and provides confronting social commentary on the degeneration of the White Australia policy and it’s effect on the new immigrants and the older white Australian population. The parallel characterisation between Norm, a bogan, uneducated man facing his own troubles of loneliness and Ahmed, an educated Pakistani student. The play follows as they go from strangers to friends and back to strangers again, all within the span of less than an hour, at a bus stop near a construction site at midnight. What struck me the most about seeing this play was the way in which key themes of discrimination and cultural exclusion are so relevant in our current political climate. Laurence and Rajan treated us to a Q & A session afterwards, explaining key acting choices that backed up their chosen characterisation. Laurence described how he creates tension with his character using proxemics, to mirror the metaphorical gap between the two characters, constantly forcing Ahmed (Rajan) to close the distance. I would recommend this play to reflect on your own prejudices and how you make others feel welcome.
Remie Gibbs
Year 12 IB Theatre Student
Junior Theatresports Semi-Final
Last night I accompanied our Junior TheatreSports team to St Andrews Cathedral School to compete in the Semi-final TheatreSports competition. Our team competed against nine other school in the state for the chance to go through to the Grand Final.
It was a high energy fast past evening with smiles and laughter filling every corner of the auditorium.
Our team played exceptionally well scoring 5’s in many rounds!
I would love to congratulate our players: Mackenzie Willis Year 8, Charlie Lee Year 8, Clementine Roumanoff Year 8, Henry Atkinson Year 7, Annalise Beatty Year 7 – with a special congratulations to our brand new Year 7 players Annalise and Henry, who competed for the first time!
I couldn’t be prouder of you all and can’t wait to see what you will do next year!
A highlight of the night was their genre replay which received a 4, 5 and 5 and was set in a gym of all places. Henry’s stand out moment in the horror genre as a trapped gym goer will forever make me laugh. Charlie Lee drove that scene perfectly as a crazed personal trainer out for blood. It was truly hilarious and highlighted just how strong your improv skills are!
Well done to all five of you, your team work and improv story telling is outstanding. I can’t wait to work with you again next year!
Congratulations!
Ms Amber Virtue
Head of Extracurricular Drama