Head of Drama, Adam Lea writes about the latest Senior Drama Production, Education, Education, Education:

Last week saw the Tom Stoppard Theatre explode into life with the final show of this year’s Senior Drama Production Education, Education, Education. This was the last performance of a thoroughly rehearsed three-night run. It was an experience the cast, crew, and dare I say audience, will never forget. As Head of Drama, my role is to create the conditions for the pupils of Pocklington School to thrive as they embark on a shared journey of collective creativity, commitment and discovery. All pupils are invited to audition for a performance role or apply to be a member of the Technical and Creative Production team. No experience is necessary, and it is often the most surprising and unanticipated applicants who uncover the most exciting aptitudes and talents.

What we do is create memories together. Through an intricate process of preparation and finally performing the show, the cast and crew forge a special bond that transcends age and friendship groups. The mantra is that everyone must ‘look after the show’. As we build towards the goal this idea begins to pull sharply into focus as I encourage every company member to ask themselves, ‘what can I do to make everyone else look good?’

The cast and crew are bright, dynamic, kind, creative, generous, warm, witty and ambitious individuals who collectively combine their skill sets, personalities and devoted commitment to creating a piece of theatre that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Whether you are the assistant stage manager responsible for the props tables, a principal actor with a challenging character to play, or an ensemble member responsible for the safety protocols for a sequence of stage combat no one is more important than another. The show only succeeds with everyone’s individual contribution.

Drama has always been how we have made sense of the world, from the earliest stories told around a campfire, through Greek tragedy, Shakespeare, Stanislavski’s naturalism, Brecht’s epic theatre revolution, right through to film, TV and the most dynamic, modern, multimedia theatre. Drama is the cultural history of the world. It is the way in which pupils can explore the challenging, often joyous, but sometimes dark places of the human condition in a safe and controlled environment. This may be through daring and forensic A-Level curriculum work or the full scale co-curricular production we saw this week. Drama provides our pupils with an environment in which they have the courage to learn the truth about the world around them, in a place they can trust.

Thank you to all who came to support the Senior drama production this week. I hope you enjoyed the show as much as we enjoyed sharing it with you. I’ll leave you with a quote that I think underpins all the virtues and values that we cherish at Pocklington School.

‘I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy. I’m telling you it is going to be worth it.’   Art Williams

Mr Adam Lea, Head of Drama

To see an album of photos from the production on Flickr please click here.