On Thursday 15th October, our Year 11 GCSE Drama students performed an extraordinary array of duologues and monologues which both moved us and cheered us in equal measure.

Grace W, Tess V, Lucy M, Rose C, Victoria J and Sofia S all found comic delight when playing everything from the founder of the first-ever Pirate Café through to a keen amateur gardener with a fascination for moss. In this current climate laughter can be in short supply and so it was that every facial expression, pause and comic nuance was embraced by our audience of Year 11’s and staff. In contrast to this, some girls elected to perform the most contemporary, mature and intense scenes from Yerma, Consent, Stories and Things I know to be True. Each of these plays requires immense skills in Naturalism, whether it be a daughter questioning why her mother grabbed her hair as a child or a young lady desperately trying to find someone to have a baby with. Jacqui H, Carolina J, Mairi S, Lillie A C, Faye H, India D B, Isabella O and Hannah B performed with utter conviction and a complete sense of truth.

In the next half of term, we will be able to enjoy much more work from the Year 11 Drama students, plus the Year 10 girls’ devised production based on Twelfth Night and the A Level students devised Verbatim piece, using the words from the KLS community. The theatres may be closed, but Drama is very much alive at Francis Holland!