Reed’s Wows at the Woking Drama Festival

Our annual foray into the Woking Drama Festival culminated with two performances in front of the adjudicator, Paul Fowler.

First up, the Lower Sixth Drama class performed ‘Not The Seagull’, which was devised as a group. Using the opening sequence of 'The Seagull' by Anton Chekov, as a starting point, the audience were given 18 variations to mull over. The feedback from the adjudicator was extremely positive. He commented that the performance 'zipped along', 'held our interest' and 'we couldn't wait to see what happened next'. He enjoyed many of the variations stating that 'the robots were a great idea', 'the French version made me laugh', the TV interview ‘was a clever and unexpected twist' and the 'backwards sequence was the pièce de résistance’! 

For the actors, he said that 'individual moments were absolutely delightful' and that it was 'very much a team effort'. All the technical elements were pointed out with 'good lighting', 'excellent choices of music' and the 'costumes were particularly used to great effect'. 

In summary, he said the play was 'absolutely bursting with ideas', had 'excellent direction' and 'made for a terrific interlude in the theatre'. 

Having seen the Lower Sixth in action, the Fourth Form Drama class performed 'Brainstorm' by Ned Glaiser, Emily Lim and Company Three, with additional material by the cast. The play is an interesting insight into the brain and how it works. Performed on a 'terrific set' with 'impressive projections', there were some 'good stage pictures', 'some lovely performances' and the 'audience participation worked extremely well'. As the adjudicator pointed out 'all of the cast have the talent and ability to take it to the next level' which bodes well for future performances. 

Tim Silk, Director of Drama