Bringing the screen alive.
When we first talked of offering an online festival the questions came thick and fast ‘how can we do it?’ ‘will it work?’ and the loudest ‘are we mad?’. We were aware though that there was a need for keen students to be able to perform to a public, however remote, which spurred us on to produce Saturday’s event.
We tried to make the Festival as interactive as possible so it was hosted by our Drama Chair who was able to speak directly to performers with a live adjudication from Marcia Carr.
Keeping it simple, we asked entrants to create a programme of varied work and grouped them into Juniors, Intermediate and Seniors. Because of demand we ended up with two Intermediate groups.
The day itself was filled with joy and, as Marcia said, we were celebrating the fact that entrants had chosen to be creative on a platform that this time last year half of us hadn’t even heard of. She reminded us that “this is a theatre like any other – just online” and went on to praise the fascinating choices of themes, highlighting the creativity, character and flair invested in the performances that created a magic which made the screen come alive.
Although we have featured the top three in each class it must be said that all displayed exceptional skills. We were thrilled by the high standard achieved and have a lively appreciation of the amount of time generously given by both students and teachers.
Thank you all for participating
