Well after an amzing Christmas (hope you all had a great time) I took a wee visit to the Royal Lyceum Theatre tonight to see ‘The Wizard of Oz’. I had heard a lot of exciting things about this production and had been dying to see it for months. Lucky for me a friend had a spare ticket as the show is virtually sold out.

With a main cast of nine they retold the wonderful story of the girl who traveled far from home to kill the wicked witch of the west. Directed by Gill Robertson, Catherine Wheels Theatre Company, she used flair and imagination to tell this well known tale. Some personal favourites was the fact that sh used a puppet dog for Toto and it worked so well to the fact the children were waiting for him to appear. The actress playing Dorothy, Denise Hoey, really used her puppetry skills to bring the dog to life.

Denise has an incredible voice, she played Little Voice in Visable Fictions production of ‘The Rise and Fall of Little Voice’, and she really made the part of Dorothy her own and appealing to all ages in the audience.

Gillian’s use of multimedia in various scenes to move the story along was genius and the tornado scene was brilliantly done.

I’ve seen Julie Austin in many things and took a course with her at Scottish Youth Theatreback in 1996 (I feel old writing this! lol) but I do have to say this was probably one of the best roles i have seen her in. Julie played the Wicked Witch of the West and had played the part with great timing and affect! She was a nasty yet loveable rogue! Credit to Julie here.

By the time Dorothy clicked her heals and said ‘there’s no place like home’ the smile across my face shone and for once I wasn’t looking at my watch to check the time. I could have seen it all over again.

The run ends on Sunday and although it says SOLD OUT on the website you may be able to get returns. What a joyous way to end my theatrical year. Well done! (i’m now starting to think… can we do this at Knox! lol)

S6 Pantomime: Cinderella

I can not believe that I have now completed my first full term at Knox Academy, and do you know what? I’m loving every minute of it! There is such a creative buzz around this school!

In August I was asked to direct the S6 pantomime and 4 months later the s6 students had staged an hour long production with passion and gusto. This may seem the norm to many reading it but you have to remember that most of the cast had just staged a two act emotional drama about the Holocaust and then 80% of the cast were involved in the Christmas Concert last week too so to still have the energy to stage the production three times in one day is amazing.

It was a very hard to write a panto for a school I had just started in but the audience seemed to laugh along with all the jokes. The students worked so hard on getting everything right, the set and costumes, dance moves, songs….. everything!

The story tells of poor Cinderella who works in the family chip shop in Haddington, dreaming of one day meeting her Prince and being a singer. When PC (Prince Charming) holds a prince idol contest to find entertainment for his Ball he auditions people throughout the land, however the wicked step-mother doesn’t let her go! Her fairy grants her wish and she finally meets her prince but does it all work out?

With a gangsta Prince, a Riverdancing Buttons, 2 of the ugliest sisters you have ever seen and special appearances from the Wicked Witch of the West and Sleeping Beauty this is a panto for the whole family!

All the students at Knox loved it on Friday and Mrs Craig even had to stop people trying to sneak in for a second time! lol!

Because it was so successful we are staging it for family, friends and the local community on Wed 9th Jan, 2008, in the Hall at 6.30pm. Tickets are £3 and can be bought on the door. Come along and bring your family.

I would like to take this time in thanking all the staff and students involved. I have never known a school to be so actively creative in the run up to Christmas (Senior play, Amazing concert, pantomime). Thank you to Mrs Sommervile for some excellent choreography and Miss Folconer for her role as Stage Manager. To all the S6… you have been a pleasure to work with and I am only sad that I started working with you this year. Break a leg in Jan!

I just wanted to write a wee something about our first production by Knox Academy Drama Department.

It was always going to be a challenge to do a full scale production with a group of S6 students who had never done drama before and rehearse it in only two months, one hour a week. The technical rehearsal was awful and so I thought we, and I say we as drama is a team subject, had bitten off more than we could chew.

To find a play that will a) not only engage the actors but also the audience and b) suit the talents of the cast isn’t always an easy option.

Come opening night we were all nervous and with an audience of around 30, students, teachers, parents and friends the lights went to black and the show began. Having decided to stage it on the thrust (audience on three sides), to make it seemed confined and like the house they were living in, the actors and audience were very close together and the company really had to focus to get through the night. As soon as the last scene finished I became teraful, they done it and they were amazing. The second night seen us perform to a full house with us having to turn a few away and through word of mouth we performed to a varied audience including SMT.

The Holocaust is very personal to me and I am honestly honoured to have worked with these talented and amazing students on such a powerful piece, to make members of an audience cry, to make them discuss, to make them feel moved by what they have seen is a great thing for any actor to be part of, let alone a student company. That is what theatre is about!

As Tess said, we’ve set a standard now and I really hope we can live up to it.

A huge thank you to everyone involved, I am so thankful to work in such a supportive faculty in such a fantastic school. Rock on next terms S6 production.

…In Holland Stands A House.

In Holland Stands A House

by Sue Saunders and Directed by J Naples-Campbell

Wed 5th Dec & Thurs 6th Dec 2007

7.30pm

Drama Studio, Knox Academy

£2

 The senior acting class at Knox Academy having been busy learning their lines and putting their finishing touches to their play ‘In Holland Stands A House’. Two students who went to Poland to visit a concentration camp will be holding an exhibition before and during the interval of the play about The Holocaust and genocide since.

This is the story of Anne Frank who with her family went into hiding during the Nazi occupation in Holland. The play interweaves a dramatised account of events in Europe with domestic scenes from the secret annex. The script draws strongly on Anne’s diary.This is the story of Anne Frank who with her family went into hiding during the Nazi occupation in Holland. The play interweaves a dramatised account of events in Europe with domestic scenes from the secret annex. The script draws strongly on Anne’s diary.

This is one of the events leading up to National Holocaust Memorial Day that the school will be hosting.

If you are interested in attending please email me at school or leave a comment, limted seats due to space.