GCSE Drama Show – promenade performance amazes audience
Fourth Year GCSE Drama pupils staged an imaginative version of ‘DNA’ by Dennis Kelly.
The central premise of DNA focuses on what happens when a group of young friends are faced with a terrible accident; they deliberately make the wrong choices to cover it up and find themselves in an unusually binding friendship where no one will own up to what they’ve done. The play tackles the themes of friendship, morality and responsibility in odd circumstances.
Set against a soundtrack of Massive Attack, the Drama department pushed the boundaries yet again to stage the piece as a promenade performance with the audience moving between locations.
Ezra Cooke, who played Richard, said: “It was a really fun and unique play to put on and not like any others we have done before. We were moving around and it had a much smaller cast than other plays, which meant that the cast got on really well together.”
Lily Clarke, who played Leah, added: “I enjoyed the fact that the play was a promenade performance as it made you think on your feet and consider the best entrances and exits for a scene.”
Director of Drama Mr Matt King-Sayce said: “We wanted to use this production as an opportunity to challenge both our pupils and the audience to engage with performance in a different way, hence why we elected for a promenade performance.
“We are incredibly proud of the pupils who performed, many of whom have never performed in a school production, for the energy and enthusiasm they brought to staging this gritty and challenging dark comedy.”
