Sixth form drama students have taken centre stage to perform their final exam pieces.
AS Level thespians presented a superb extract from The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh for their controlled assessment. This dark tale set in a Totalitarian State follows the interrogation and final execution of a writer accused of child murders. Katurian has spent his short life writing stories about children dying in a variety of grotesque ways and although he is not the murderer of them, he has killed his parents because of their constant abuse of his younger brother.
Tom Hughes played Topolski - the detective interviewing Katurian. His command of the role was astounding. Arthur Slack played Katurian with an air of resigned acceptance to his fate and Scott Holbein played a thuggish detective called Ariel. The three actors created tension and suspense throughout the performance culminating in the final shocking scene of execution.
A Level students, Seb Slade and Rebecca Pye, devised a piece of theatre based on Alzheimer's for their controlled assessment. In Blue Velvet, they played an elderly couple that had been together all their life. They multi-rolled to show their past and present through the medium of a photograph album.
The piece was developed having undertaken research into the illness, interviewing an elderly couple and using Godber's September in the Rain as stimulus. Using Brechtian theatre they created a truly heartfelt performance, touching and bittersweet, which was a real credit to them.
