‘Remember, remember the 3rd of November’

IGCSE and IB Drama students from The Sultan’s School – plus one lucky Grade 7 girl who had shown her thespian potential during last year’s production of Oliver Twist – completed two slick performances of 3rd November, yesterday, the result of a week-long ‘Putting on a Play’ workshop directed by Nick Pryor of Titch Theatre.

The idea to bring Nick to The Sultan’s School was born towards the end of the last academic year. It was felt that it would benefit students, who have had to study Drama in their small year-group class sizes, to all join together and be part of a professional workshop with their fellow Drama students of different ages. And, for some students who have acted in front of a camera but never in front of a live audience before, the opportunity was too good to pass up. Logistically, however, it was always going to be a challenge for Nick Pryor and The Sultan’s School students, because each Drama workshop was to run from 2 till 6 p.m. everyday, with the small matter of a school day already completed! In the end, it was one full week of hard work, stress, laughter and ultimately great reward.

Nick’s workshop began with some Drama games and vocal warm-up skills before the real business began… devising a script from thin air! The creative juices eventually flowed and 3rd November was born, a High School mystery tale, where four new students can’t help but notice something strange about the school, its staff and the pupils. Through a series of flashbacks, red herrings and a tension-driven confrontation scene, the mystery was eventually unraveled to an enthralled audience.

Just seven days later, our inexperienced students put on two performances of this play, on the 3rd November. Their nerves nearly betrayed them in front of a 300 strong audience of fellow pupils during the afternoon, and their small voices were nearly lost in the crowd. However, three hours and a full evaluation later and the cast rose to the occasion and wowed a smaller audience of parents and older students. There was much merriment and some excellent performances from actors and actresses who had grown in stature as the week wore on.

A lasting memory from the Nick Pryor workshop was witnessing the final cut of the ‘triathlon’ scene. When Nick first introduced this style of physical theatre to the students, its alien nature created much fear and apprehension amongst them. However, the completed “slapstick” scene was beautifully choreographed, superbly controlled and was funny to boot: a fitting climax to an excellent week.