An evening of dramatic monologues and extracts was well attended by an audience of family, staff and peers on a rainy Thursday evening in December.

The chance to try out classroom scripted material in front of a good audience was an excellent educative experience for the senior pupils studying Drama GCSE and A Level Theatre Studies.

The evening allowed the U6 Theatre studies pupils to present their examination monologues – which they will perform for the visiting examiner in February 2024. To try these out with an audience reaction is such a good way to work on the details. Pieces came from a range of performance texts including the harrowing Martin McDonagh work The Pillowman, to the hilarious Topless where Miles Tredinnick brings to the stage the tales of an open top London bus tour guide.

L6 presented an extract from one of their A level set texts That Face by Polly Stenham, set around the tenuous relationships of a Dysfunctional family. This piece challenged the audience as much as the actors with the graphic nature of life and the mature materials the actors presented.

There were four pieces of offer from M5 and these again provided challenge both in style and genre from the comedic pen of Alan Ayckbourn to the highly charged material written in conjunction with female prisoners and capturing on stage some of their personal stories and journeys.

The Drama department wish to thank the audience for attending and supporting the academic Drama and Theatre students.