Sam Pinnock, Year12 explains what happened:

“This year’s house drama competition saw the return of former Colfeian, and current RADA student, Henry Byrne as judge, ably assisted by Mr Russell. A packed Beardwood theatre was thoroughly entertained on Wednesday 29th of February. The evening was adeptly brought together by Mrs Cordell, and diligently directed by sixth form students from each of the four houses. Pupils from years 7 to 9 participated, with a chance to show their theatrical talent.

Beardwood opened the show with a refined performance of “Forty Winks Beauty”. The openers proved to follow tradition well, as this “potted” panto had the audience engaged from start to finish. Strong performances from Jade Oswald and Alex Rees formed the foundation of the play and set a platform for the rest of the cast to perform at an impressive level to say the least.

Bramley then followed with their performance of “The Demon Headmistress”. The whole cast demonstrated their desire to impress with a well-drilled performance, led from the front by Sophia Rosen-Fouladi, who had a noticeable stage presence whilst acting the Headmistress. The play closed with a bang after Denis Zhelezko’s performance as “Eddy” proved to be eccentric and well-suited, which gained great reactions from the audience.

Up next was Norton’s performance of “Beauty is a Beast”. Supported by Mr Crowe.   I believe it was safe to say that this performance was expected to be of an unconventional high-quality. The large cast coped very well with the full script which was positively enjoyable from start to finish. Jeremiah St Fort’s “dancing” halfway through was one of the highlights of the play; truly unforgettable! …The inspired multi-role by Year 7 Charlotte Carbin stood out in the eyes of the judges.

Finally, Prendergast closed the evening with “Shrek”. This play was well-rehearsed and ran very smoothly indeed. All the actors involved showed they had great confidence and were comfortable in the space. Henry Mathias won the award for the best actor in this piece.

It was nail-bitingly close, but there had to be a winner. Solid performances from all houses made the job of choosing a winner even more difficult for the judges. However, it was Norton that prevailed as the victors, closely followed by Beardwood. In third place came Bramley, and in fourth place came Prendergast.

All actors and respective sixth-form directors should be proud of their contributions to an entertaining evening. Special thanks also go to the judges for their time and detailed feedback.”

You can read Sam Pinnock’s article in full as it appears in the Sixth Form Magazine – The Newgate Papers.