Last week, 11th and 12th May, saw the hugely successful performance of the U4/L5 play ‘Electra’, performed by LEH and Hampton School students. This production, newly written by John Ward is intentionally contemporary. Focusing on themes of misinformation, global unrest, and justice, along with Miss Lindsell’s cracking punk soundtrack!  All of the cast and crew have worked tirelessly throughout the process and fully engrossed themselves in the story, emotions and characters that ‘Electra’ presents. This is the first time since COVID we have been able to put on this production, and what a triumph it was!

By Miss Torrent - Acting Director of Drama

Photography by Big Image

 

Performing in this year’s joint Hampton and LEH play: Electra, has been a real highlight! After auditioning to be a part of this amazing project all the way back in January this year, a talented cast of U4 and L5 students from both schools were selected to put on this amazing show. It didn’t matter what your role was; we all knew that we had a big part to play to make this play as brilliant as we could.

Then we went into rehearsals! Twice a week we all came together as a cast to put this incredible play together and through Miss Lindsell’s expert direction, with the help of Erin, we were really beginning to see all the characters and the story start to take shape. As there were always quite a few of us in rehearsals and with limited time to put this production together, we sometimes had to block or rehearse some scenes by ourselves. Whilst also improving both our dramatic skills in acting and direction and our personal skills in responsibility, this was also a time for us all to really gel with our scene partners as we all started to understand the story and its characters.

Everyone in the cast got on with each other really well and we all became very close friends. Spending time with the rest of the cast: joking around and playing games together was really important as it meant that we were all still having so much fun on a play that had quite a serious story and allowed us to all keep our spirits and energy high through the longer and later rehearsals.

Later on in the process, we were able to rehearse with our amazing set, props and costumes (courtesy of Miss Darwood and the amazing Tech team). This really elevated our performances as we were all able to start to see what the final show would look like. A special mention, where many props were used, goes to the beginning of Act Two. Combined with some great blocking and exhilarating music, this moment in the show quickly became a cast-favourite.

We had some amazing music in this show; a special thank you goes out to Miss Lindsell’s nephew, who arranged and blended some amazing tracks for us, creating the effect we wanted on stage. Also, with many thanks to Tom (also known as drummer boy), we had live drumming on stage, which really enhanced the effect of the chorus and the atmosphere that we wanted to convey to the audience.

But before we knew it, show week had arrived! This was the time we had all been waiting for. It was not always easy, but we all got through it together as a cast and crew and many other people who helped us put on this amazing play, we really had become one big Electra family. I think on behalf of everyone in Electra I can say that we were really fortunate to be able to perform this show twice, and it was amazing to see so many people in the audience on both nights.

I would like to thank all of our friends and families for being so supportive of us in this project as well as a massive thank you to Miss Lindsell, Erin, Mr Spry, Miss Darwood, Miss Torrent and everyone else who was involved behind the scenes in helping this show come to life.

Last but not least, I would like to give a huge thank you to the incredible cast of this production. It has been long, confusing and tough at times but we got through it together and I’m so proud to have shared this experience with all of you. I love you all!

REVOLUTION!

By Megan Downer (L5F)