This year’s L4 Plays Festival did not disappoint, with both nights displaying the wonderful work L4 pupils have been getting up to in drama this term.

The first night started with Dennis Kelly’s ‘Our Teacher’s A Troll’ by L42. The tale revolved around two terrible twins with a talent for turmoil who rule their school with terror and tyranny. However, this is all changed with the arrival of a new head teacher with green scaly skin, sharp gnarly fangs, and a long spiky tail. This hilarious piece was perfectly captured by L42 who embodied all their roles with great skill as well as making great use of physical theatre to portray different objects. A key highlight was the menacing troll who, although of little words, managed to fill the Blake Studio with laughter.

The second performance of the evening was L41, with their performance of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and they truly did take us from the heart of the Cathedral Close to a world of pure imagination. This piece entranced the audience as Willy Wonka, skilfully portrayed by Ore Akere, led us through the elusive Chocolate factory. The piece was in both parts funny and menacing, with the audience left in suspense about the missing children, given only the songs of the dancing Oompa Loompas as solace.

The second night of the L4 Plays Festival was introduced with L43’s rendition of “Johnny and the Dead” by Terry Pratchett, a play about a boy called Johnny Maxwell, a boy who can see dead people! Various dead citizens, led by a former town councillor, ask Johnny to help stop the council’s sale of Blackbury’s neglected cemetery. L43 made great use of the space, creating an eery cemetery setting that completely contrasted the lively environment of Johnny’s school. L43 made way for an inspired reflection on life after death whilst also telling a heartwarming story of how friendships can form in the most unlikely of places.

Ending the second night and the festival was L44’s showing of “Beasts and Beauties” by Carol Ann Duffy. This was a beautiful accumulation of stories fierce and funny in the setting of a school class where the cover teacher hasn’t arrived. L44 beautifully captured the creativity of young people and brought a playfulness to the stage that invited feelings of nostalgia to the audience members. The pupils made great use of multi-rolling and it is safe to say that their performance ended this play festival perfectly.

All pupils’ who took part should be immensely proud of the work they produced and we look forwards to what’s next…