Embedded Files
The Importance of Being Earnest - A Review
The Importance of Being Earnest - A Review
09/12/2020
VARIATIONS
VARIATIONS
02/10/2020
FEEDBACK FROM PARENTS
"Well what can I say, another fantastic production! It is clear that the students enjoyed making it and the end result was fabulous!"
"My husband and I have just finished watching the film, and I just wanted to pass on my congratulations to you and all involved. To see such a brilliant production, made even more special by the circumstances under which it was filmed and created, is an example of what makes Clayesmore so special. What lucky children we have, to be taught by people who can think outside the box in this way; more invaluable than ever in the current situation. Congratulations to all of your actors and actresses who did you proud."
"We loved the film! A huge well done and thank you for involving [our daughter]. It was creative, clever, pacy and entertainingly funny."
"Very good. I think that they did an incredible job and they have become part of the history of 2020!"
"Really well put together and just shows what can be done if they/we put their/our minds to it. A great lesson to us all. Please pass on "well dones" to the whole cast. Really impressive all round."
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
14/02/2020
Clayesmore Theatre produced another memorable play this week. Their production of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ was so much fun - a real joy to watch. The set, a mock-up of a traditional Greek villa (complete with an ivy-adorned balcony) was beautifully immersive and gave a real sense of place. As always the cast and crew was made up of pupils from right across the school, all working together for one communal goal - to bring Shakespeare into the 1980s!
There were moments of hilarity (demonstrating exceptional comic timing), as well as moments of genuine ‘edge-of-your-seat’ drama. It is so impressive to put on such an ambitious project, especially considering they only rehearse for three days the week before! I would like to congratulate all those involved. Really well done!
Through Her Eyes - Review
Through Her Eyes - Review
21/01/2019
HOOD - REVIEW
HOOD - REVIEW
12/12/2018
Summer Holidays won’t be Les Misérables for two Clayesmore students
Summer Holidays won’t be Les Misérables for two Clayesmore students
23/03/2018
Two Clayesmore students will be spending a part of their summer holidays on the stage of the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton as part of the theatre’s Summer Youth Project to stage the school production of West End favourite Les Misérables. James (Year 12) and Alasdair (Year 10) were both successful in the audition process, out of 400 applicants. Alasdair will be playing the part of a “Rogue” and James will play the part of a “Student”.
Following rehearsals, they will be in four performances between 10 and 12 August. It will, no doubt, be an amazing experience for them both.
Dinner at No.13 – murder on the menu in play première
Dinner at No.13 – murder on the menu in play première
16/03/2018
It’s time for Julian Fellowes and Agatha Christie to step aside, there’s a new period murder mystery writer on the block, and she’s a Year 10 student at Clayesmore.
The Drawing and de Selincourt Rooms were transformed for the event, echoing back to their heyday as a fine country house for the Ismay family in the 1920s before the school bought the Iwerne Estate. The cast mingled with the audience over drinks and canapés (provided by the Friends of Clayesmore), before dinner was served and the plot unfolded. Written and directed by Year 10 pupil, Lucy, it quickly transpired that anyone of the guests at the dinner party, and indeed the host himself, had the motive to poison the tragic Liana Maddison. Enter the Inspector, whose job it was to uncover the identity of the murderer. Under pressure, each character revealed the secrets and lies of their past, before the murderer was finally revealed.
It was a wonderful event with, as we have come to expect, strong performances from all involved. Moreover, it was Clayesmore’s quickest ever production to sell out – all 60 tickets were booked within two hours. Congratulations to Lucy, and her cast and crew on a wonderful piece of theatre.
Theatre students win places to study at Bristol Old Vic and RADA
Theatre students win places to study at Bristol Old Vic and RADA
15/03/2018
Two Clayesmore students are celebrating this week having been offered unconditional places to study at top drama schools. Caitlin will study BA Production Arts (Stage and Screen) at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and Emily will study BA Technical Theatre and Stage Management at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA).
Our Director of Drama, Mr Tom Wansey adds: “These institutions are in the top three in the country . . . if not the world! To put this into perspective, in terms of place numbers and prestige, it really is on par with getting a place to study at Oxford or Cambridge.”
‘Clayesmore Theatre’, the school’s theatre company, stages a wide range of productions each year, from Shakespeare to musicals to challenging modern plays. As well as published works, the season always includes a number of student written and directed plays. This varied programme allows students of all years to work together in a collaborative and creative environment.
As well as contributing creatively to more than twenty Clayesmore Theatre productions between them, Caitlin and Emily are also current members of the five-strong, student ‘Theatre Committee’.
Since being elected as Artistic Director and Head of Production respectively, Caitlin and Emily have designed a season of nine plays this year, have helped to cast productions and recruited and trained crew members. Their experience running the theatre in this way has certainly helped prepare them for their next step.
Our congratulations to Caitlin and Emily who follow a long tradition of Clayesmorians who have gone on to careers in the theatre industry, among them Jenni Toksvig (writer), Nicole Faraday (actor), Sir Howard Panter (Ambassadors Theatre Group), Stephen Joseph (pioneer of Theatre in the Round) and Kenneth Macintosh (Director, National Theatre).
Trojan Barbie Review - 06/02/18
Trojan Barbie Review - 06/02/18
Clayesmore Gets there first again
Clayesmore Gets there first again
The school’s production of Trojan Barbie gives a flavour of Troy ahead of the BBC/Netflix production due out next month.
Trojan Barbie takes a rather different view of the fall of the city of Troy, don’t expect any glorification. Focussing on the period after the fall of Troy it serves as an illustration of the consequences of war then and now. In keeping with the media’s current focus on the unfair treatment of women the focus of the play is the women who survive war. The play doesn’t just resemble events in Troy and recent reports from the Middle East but recalls the aftermath of every war in recorded history.
The setting is a women only POW camp housing the surviving members House of Troy’s royal family. Poor Hecuba, brilliantly portrayed by Shannon, has lost everything and is sinking into an abyss of madness and despair. Her husband and sons dead, her daughters lost to the soldiers – Hetty and Rosie do a great job as the disturbed Cassandra and hopeful Polly X – and her surviving grandchild brutally murdered.
Into this chaos of ancient times and bringing it into focus today, Lotte (Louise), a ditsy dollmaker, is flung. She is a very English tourist from Reading, and is truly out of her comfort zone but muddles through. She bumps into all sides of the story from the haughty Helen (Jess) to the cynical soldiers (Callum and Ben, in particular). There is, amid the awfulness, a curious humour in her response and very English insistence on contacting the Embassy!
The play is brilliantly staged and sympathetically performed. The story reminds us that the past informs the present, and from generation to generation we forget that war is hell for all concerned.
Congratulations to everyone for a complex production with difficult themes expertly delivered.
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair” in Clayesmore’s production of Macbeth
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair” in Clayesmore’s production of Macbeth
12/12/2017
Clayesmore’s Director of Drama, Mr Tom Wansey writes:
“It has been a very busy term in the Theatre. After the success of the two productions before Half Term – ‘Five Go Mad in Dorset’ and ‘167’ – the cast and crew of ‘Macbeth’ knew they had lots to live up to. The student design team worked tirelessly in the lead-up to the performances, creating a bold, monochromatic set made up of ‘concrete’ blocks and tiles. This cold, totalitarian aesthetic was emphasized further by the lighting, sound, make-up and costume teams. With the design in place, and only a week to go, the three-day intensive rehearsals started! The hours of work that the whole company invested was entirely worth it. As well as being a slick and entertaining production it was also clear how effective it was in making Shakespeare relevant to all those involved – many of whom are studying ‘Macbeth’ for their English GCSE. The three witches were spine-chillingly scary and Ben W (Y10) played the eponymous role with real finesse. The whole company, however, should be very proud of their achievement.”
Clayesmore pupil’s dystopian depiction of society without free speech
Clayesmore pupil’s dystopian depiction of society without free speech
31/10/2017
Clayesmore Theatre recently put on a play written and directed by Lower Sixth Form student, Shannon. Year 11 pupils Charlotte and Ben provided this review of the play:
It isn’t often that, in leaving the theatre, a play successfully encourages you to think so critically and profoundly about the trappings of the modern world in which we live. The play ‘167’, however, does just that. Written and directed by our very own Shannon, the play is about a writer, (played by Ollie H, Y11), who is himself writing a play. Ollie’s troubled author fights writer’s block throughout the piece, creating a series of one-off scenes depicting a dystopian world in which an authoritarian government has cut down on freedom of speech. The exact law states that people are only allowed to speak 167 words a day. The play then examines the difficulties that would inevitably arise if such a constricting law was passed in a modern country.
Shannon’s script wryly attacks the likes of ‘Siri’, ‘Alexa’ and ‘Cortana’. “The public”, the writer says at one point, “have been fooled into willingly letting these devices into their homes” wrongly assuming they are for their benefit, when in fact these ‘digital assistants’ are there to spy on them. This kind of topical, political observation is to be expected when realising that the play is so clearly inspired by the work of German practitioner and political activist, Bertolt Brecht. Many of the techniques used in the play are very Brechtian indeed; the actors multi-role various parts and never leave the stage, the stage itself is also divided with chalk into an area inside the writer’s head and an area outside it. Staging the piece in such a way was a brave choice, but one which certainly paid off.
Throughout the play, there were lots of touching moments and even some funny parts. Two scenes however were particularly poignant. The first was the reaction of a mother (played by Lucy M, Y10) to the news that her teenage daughter (Chloe, Y11) was pregnant. On hearing the news of the unplanned pregnancy the mother quickly decides that her daughter must “visit the clinic to sort it out”. The fact that the daughter has run out of words to fight her case means that she has lost “control over her own body”. The other touching scene took place between actors Rosie (Y11) and Jessica (Y12). Centring around the idea of suicide, the fact that neither character has words left to express themselves means that what plays out is an extremely emotional exercise in how expression and body-language can convey love and reassurance without the need for words. This, we are told, shows human beings’ capacity to adapt.
The play concluded with the actors coming forward to deliver various messages of hope from Malala Yousafzai to Rosa Parks. The most obvious message being that freedom of speech is very important and that we must therefore be vigilant when freely handing over rights to the authorities.
The play was a terrific piece of ensemble theatre and everyone involved both on stage and behind it should be very proud.
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