Lucy McKenzie BY EMMA HAXTON
consistency flows with ease through her teaching practice from Year 5 upwards. Lucy’s creative input to the co-curricular schedule has many highlights, including her direction of the all-singing and dancing Year 6 productions of The Jungle Book Jr and Beauty and the Beast Jr , both joyful to watch. But it is the Lower School production of Matilda the Musical Jr that will go down in Edward Alleyn Theatre history as the most daring, collaborative and breathtakingly visual spectacle of Lower School brilliance that we have seen to date. It is so fitting that by her desk is the huge rose which featured in Beauty and the Beast Jr – a tangible, visual memory of all that she has done to enrich and develop drama in the Senior School, the Junior School and as head of LAMDA. Lucy is made of strong stuff, full of good and gold, which is why her departure will leave such an indelible mark. She will not be forgotten and she will be long missed. Whatever Lucy is – friend, teacher, mentor, mother – you can trust her to do the job well. So, Lucy, have proper fun in Cambridgeshire with your beautiful family, your undeni- able strength and your magic calming touch. Go spread the Mackenzie magic! ◉
Lucy is rock solid, total diamond. She has the stability, endurance and the absolute can- do attitude required of any drama teacher wonderful mother, an inspiring human and a proper friend. Lucy rocked up in 2019, all fruity squash, flowers, story dice, Christmas worth their salt: a brilliant person, a
and kindness, and she quietly settled us. For the family of hotheads that was the Drama Department, she came and gave us what we needed, she ‘mummed’ us; her cool, collected energy balanced the work family dynamic and put us all at ease. A beacon of calm and flexibility, she is worth her weight and then some. To her Year 11s, Lucy is even more valuable; the way in which she has won her school children over in her first years of teaching GCSE is unbelievable. She is organised to the hilt, but without any fuss, so they respect her. Con- sistent, yet playfully creative, so they are inspired by her. Doesn’t suffer fools or have favourites but cares for each individual uniquely, so they trust her. Never anything but authentic, so they respect her. Her consistency is such that her colleagues, now friends, see her in the same light, but with an added dash of cheek and spice, a clear head and a splash of gin! She has taught us as much about how to be as she has the students. She always places the needs of her students first and will help anyone. The Mackenzie
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