Cranford Review 2015

DRAMA 2014 / 2015
An Amazing Year of Opportunities
“All
Our Heroes” is a community arts
project touring schools and public
venues in Hounslow and Birmingham. The project
which began in September 2014 and will be
touring for two years, evolved through workshops
and discussion with Cranford students in creating
the piece working alongside professional actors
from Zero Culture Theatre Company. The play
opens your eyes to a wider world that is not part
of the regular curriculum. It delves into the lives
of villagers in a distant land but soon brings home
to you the thing that connects us all, the theme of
loss, longing and suffering.
When you have productions like this performed in
school you can see the impact immediately. Some
of the comments made by the younger audience
were profound: “It has made me think of history
in a different way. The effects of war on the lives
of real people, not just soldiers, but families and
children like me”.
Seema Sethi (Head of Performing Arts)
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Having received in September 2014 the
recognition of Arts Mark Gold for outstanding
arts opportunities across the school, we started the
academic year with the success of “Richard III”
and the Shakespeare in Schools project, with a cast
mainly comprising of year 11 students. We knew this
was going to be an amazing year of opportunities
for students in drama, either as a participant or as a
member of the an audience.
This academic year we took 8 trips to the theatre
including “Richard II” at the Trafalgar Studios with
year 9, 10 & 11 students and “Red Earth” at the Unicorn,
London. Year 13 drama students, in support of their A
Level drama studies saw “The White Devil “ at the
RSC, Stratford Upon Avon, “Woyzeck” and “Othello”
at the Lyric, Hammersmith and at The Globe and some
year 10 and 11 students joined them to increase their
theatre experience. In addition we took year 10 and 11
students to see “The Curious Incident of the Dog in
the Night-time at the Gielgud Theatre and “Woman in
Black “at the Fortune Theatre, London.
In the summer term students from year 9 performed
to 120 primary school students from Berkley Primary
School as part of their Theatre in Education project that
they have been working on in lessons. They tackled
themes that are relevant to younger audiences; bullying,
peer pressure, SATs, friendships, and family. The
young children engaged with the performances and
asked some very pertinent questions along with giving
some very positive feedback. This experience fired up
the year 9 students and had a direct impact in lessons.
We finished the year with our stunning school
production, “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” where
students from across the school got involved either
onstage or back stage in making this an outstanding
end to an amazing year of opportunities.
I am delighted these experiences in drama this
year both in lessons and beyond have captured the
imagination, enthusiasm and love of drama amongst
so many in our student population. Our focus for the
new academic year will be building upon the success of
2014-2015 including even more opportunities for key
stage 3 students to visit the theatre and participate in
performance, with the introduction of the Arts Award
and a KS3 drama club and our planned new production
for the Shakespeare in Schools Project in October 2015.
There is much to look forward to... ...So get involved.
Seema Sethi (Head of Performing Arts)