Congratulations to Bishop Luffa Drama Club who participated in the Shakespeare School Festival, performing The Tempest at The New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth on Tuesday 12th March. With three other schools contributing other adaptations of Shakespeare plays, the evening was a wonderful celebration. It was a fantastic opportunity for us, sharing our retelling of this delightful tale of magic and mystery in a professional theatre with a live audience. The performance was the culmination of months of rehearsal, exploring the play, developing characters, blocking the action, learning lines and gathering costumes, under the guidance of Spencer Dixon our Sixth Form director. It was such a positive and rewarding experience for our students. We very much hope to continue to be involved in the festival next year.
The Shakespeare School’s Festival founder and creator of the BBC Shakespeare Animated Tales, Chris Grace, has written a letter to Spencer Dixon recognising the quality of his contribution as Director of The Tempest. Spencer had worked with our Drama Club developing the piece since September in preparation for our performance at the New Theatre Royal Portsmouth. He said ‘There was active free flowing lyricism of movement and I liked the way the cast were used imaginatively to create structures’ and then added ‘the whole cast were committed, on cue, and worked together seamlessly…Above all, you let Shakespeare’s words convey the narrative’. He concluded by saying, ‘your version was spot on’. This is praise indeed. We wish Spencer all the best as he continues his study of acting toward a career in the theatre industry.
Mrs N Furnell, Team Leader of Drama