Write the Girl

During the months of January all the way through to May, I had the pleasure to play the role of Lady Malcolm in LEH’s Write the Girl play, Lady Malcolm’s Ball. The process began with a series of auditions, unlike any I’d attended before. A relaxed atmosphere accompanied by a group of wonderful people showed that this play was sure to be something special from the very start. After deliberations were made, not a moment was wasted and rehearsals began promptly. Headed up by the unstoppable force of Ms Emerson and Ms Torrent, these Thursday and Friday evenings would often be the highlight of my week.

In March, the experienced Lower Sixth Assistant Directors Ravneet and Ariana began to contribute their valuable advice, pushing our performances to an entirely new level thanks to their well seasoned acting chops. Not to mention, we worked with the sensational Ms Darwood and Mr Spry. Whilst most of their time was spent tirelessly working behind the scenes, procuring a plethora of props and costumes, they were the reason this play came alive. However, preparing for this play didn’t stop at these rehearsals. Every character, whether named or not, under the instruction of our directors truly immersed ourselves in the piece, researching the time period and embodying the characters.

After these initial preparations, our cast soon knew their way through the whole play. Not only was this experience entertaining and enriching but also provided an entirely new level of insight after meeting the very man that penned our play. Freddie Machin, a seasoned playwright with multiple published and acclaimed plays, was the mastermind behind this work and as a cast, we had the entirely new but eye-opening experience of working directly with him. During our Thursday and Friday rehearsal sessions, he could critique our work directly and we could ask for his opinions on our characterisations or artistic choices, hearing the answers directly from the horse’s mouth.

As the show drew nearer, we embarked on the homestretch. Refining and tweaking sections of the play, running cues till they were smoother than water and practising using both props and costumes were all ways we pulled the play together ahead of show week. Yet, the moment I felt that this play truly came together was a grand all-day rehearsal. Although tiring, every member of our cast pulled together to complete our very first full run though. Whilst it wasn’t seamless, nothing ever is and it marked the start of the homestretch.

Show week rapidly approaching, we couldn’t have coped without the new addition of our amazing behind the scenes crew consisting of both teachers and students alike. After a weekend where many participated in DofE, we were all undeniably knackered, but this didn’t faze our determination and a successful tech and dress rehearsal followed. During these two nights, we prepared for the first performance and what a performance it was! Friends, family, teachers, and anyone else in between all came to support and watch our hard work come to fruition. Our lighting team, makeup team, stage crew, directors and cast all moved as one, working collaboratively to produce the ultimate performance. Although my personal highlight were the edible props, it was an undeniably stellar night in every respect. However, the merriment didn’t end there, another show followed on Thursday.

Once we had received a final stamp of approval from Machin himself and taken a cast photo, the last hurrah followed. After experiencing the previous show, every member of our team was wiser than before and could deliver an elevated performance. Admittedly, I was upset that this had come to an end, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience or a more pleasant group of people to work with. If you came to see either show, I truly hope you enjoyed it and felt transported back to a time of glitz and glamour. To every member of the cast, behind the scenes team or director, thank you from the bottom of my heart for creating an atmosphere of warmth and welcome befitting of this grandiose play. You are some of the most creative and good-natured people I have ever met. All I can say now is stay tuned for wonderful productions to come and long live LEH drama!

By Maryam (U4)

Eliza’s story doesn’t end at Alexander’s death - she settled her husband’s debts, co-founded New York’s first private orphanage, and even fundraised to build the Washington Monument. She was far from the mild-mannered wife history often paints her as - she was famously strong-willed, a tomboy in her youth, and Martha Washington described her as: ‘My ideal of a true woman’. This production centres on that woman, the widow who has to fight for her husband’s posthumous reputation as much as she has to build a legacy for herself. And just as Eliza makes a name for herself, I want this production to make a stand for itself outside of the fact that it’s about “Hamilton’s wife”. Whilst Hamilton famously focuses on wordplay, mimicking Hamilton’s recognition as a prolific writer, this production will look to focus on visuals, using large ensembles to create a world of widowhood that Eliza is suddenly thrown into the middle of. After all, Eliza may not focus on words, but she does focus on action.

The story will begin at the moment of Hamilton’s death, focusing on the challenges suddenly given to Eliza: raising a family alone, debt-ridden, with her late husband’s reputation dwindling. Not only this, I wanted to explore the sisterhood that immediately surrounded Eliza in this moment of uncertainty: her sister Angelica, her daughters, and her female friends. Being a widow places Eliza in an insecurity that only women of the time can understand, particularly when the death of her father followed a few months later. But following these challenges, this production should quickly become empowering: how Eliza managed to buy back the home she had been forced to sell at auction to pay off her husband’s debts, how she sets up a private orphanage, how she fights her husband’s political enemies, even demanding apologies from key political figures such as President James Monroe. How she fought to create a life for herself. And won.

Lucy Foster - Playwright, Betsey

And two years later… the School Play returns to LEH! But not just any play, ‘Betsy’ is the untold story of the “other” Hamilton who fought through the constraints of a woman in 18th century New York, ensuring her contributions to society added to paving the way for the feminist movement. The script was written for LEH’s Drama Department by Lucy Foster through the Write the Girl initiative. The unique and original storyline provided the opportunity for all actors to contribute to the direction of scenes as well as collaborate on the ensemble concepts which played a large part towards the non-naturalistic style of the performance. During the weekly rehearsals, we created new and unexpected relationships with students in both older and younger years through our mutual dedication to this play. Ms Bedford (Director) and Lauren Harris’ (Assistant Director, L6) experimentation in multiple scenes enriched all 50+ of us in the cast and crew as we discovered the numerous ways in which the same script can be manipulated to tell a different story. We were most excited for our session with the accent coach who helped convert us into local New Yorkers, commencing our journey to transform into our characters. Later, we decided to develop an American Accent-Only policy on set which aided us in morphing into our roles. Accompanying percussion music lead by Mr Millet fortified the ambience of the play with Hannah Clarke as our pianist. It was incredibly fun for the Sixth Formers in particular who hadn’t had the delight of a Music lesson since U4! Skipping down to our first dress rehearsal, I recall opening the door to the green room to unveil racks of dresses and corsets in all shapes and sizes rented from the National Theatre with labels marking all the previous productions they had been used in. A few seconds later, a rush of the younger years flooded the room and admired the outfits. Before we knew it, the first night arrived. We sat in the Green Room and pressed our ears against the door whilst hearing our audience enter before running up the stairs to the pitch-black studio to huddle and jump in an almost cult-like manner to perform the “tiki tiki tonga” which the U6 taught us to elevate our confidence before getting on stage. And just as we walked back down the stairs to the stage, there were a few seconds of silence in which we all recognised that we were finally about to perform on a magnificent set, two years later…

 By Yasmin Al-Obadi (L6) - Drama Scholar 2021-23