Colfe’s has a thriving Drama Department that involves pupils throughout the school in curriculum and non-curriculum based projects.
In addition to the examination performances at G.C.S.E., A/S and A-level, the Department offers many other activities throughout the year. In February, the Upper School performed ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ at Greenwich Theatre, the Middle School performed ‘Guys and Dolls’ in January and Year 7 performed ‘YeHa! in the Summer Term. This year, we are performing ‘Antigone’ and in 2012, the musical ‘Sugar’ for Year 9 -13 and a Year 7 and 8 production. House Drama is a fun and rewarding event and will take place in the Spring Term.
Each year, the Lower School has a theatre visit for the entire year group. Our outings for this year: in December Year 7 will be going to see ‘The Railway Children’, Year 8 ‘Blood Brothers’ in October and next April, Year 9 will be seeing ‘Billy Elliot’.
Both Year 10 and 11 G.C.S.E. groups have theatre visits and a Day of London Theatre where a workshop and backstage visit take place. Plays planned for this year include, ‘The 39 Steps’, ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘The Woman in Black’.
Our A/S and A-level groups make many theatre visits throughout the year and take part in workshops from professional companies. Visits this year include: ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’, ‘The Wild Bride’ and ‘My City’. In addition, there are visits to The Globe and a camping trip to Stratford for Year12 in the Summer Term.
We are delighted to offer our students LAMDA classes as an extra-curricular activity and our first cohort will be taking exams in December.
We have regular lunchtime talks – ‘In the Spotlight’ – from people within the Drama world. We have already had an ex-Colfeian, Robyn Bosworth Davies, talk to students about studying English at Drama at University and Sheridan Lloyd about the Brit School and Rose Bruford College. Future talks feature West-End and National Theatre Actors, a TV actress and a student from Mountview.
We are fortunate to have a full time Drama Technician who runs sessions at lunchtime and after school on the technical side of Drama. We encourage our students to operate our shows by teaching them skills in lighting, sound, stage management and props.
For the Colfe’s community we offer STAGES which offers discounted tickets to some of the best shows in London, enabling pupils, staff and parents the opportunity to see excellent theatre at a very reasonable cost. We have already been to see ‘The Wizard of Oz’ this term and in October, we are seeing ‘Ghost’. Future shows include ‘Matilda’ and ‘Singing in the Rain’.
The Colfe’s Drama Department is a very busy, enthusiastic and committed Department. For information on all our trips, please see our Drama Programme.