CULTURE Somes wins REACTION House Plays Festival
Not even a combination of Covid-19 and foul mid- winter weather could stop the 50th REACTION House Plays Festival from taking place in late June. Once again the Tothill Cup was at stake and in spite of reduced rehearsal time because of the Covid-19 lockdown, all Houses put on well-crafted presentations of their chosen plays. There were many highlights and magic moments over the three- night festival: a very young Cupid in Julius realised the power and joy of his sexually empowering arrows; the death of capitalism was symbolised by Flower’s with a well- timed money shower; a showdown
in Corfe’s Us & Them captured the intensity of that play and the aerial antics of both William Koko and Ethan Manera will be remembered. Even though the plays were deliberately chosen to be short and manageable for rehearsal, the quality and depth of most of the subject matter was substantial. Several plays were doubled up which highlighted the different creative approaches to the underlying messages contained within. Us & Them tackled by both School and Corfe, held pertinent messages about the diversity and division, possibly more relevant now than when the play was first written. Jamie Yee’s presentation of Sir Roger Hall’s early work, The Quiz , skillfully investigated the divisions of socio-economic
expectations as a university student approaches summer employment with unexpectedly violent consequences. Somes took out the Tothill Cup for Best House Play, adjudicator Peter Rutherford naming The Waiting Game directed by Charlie Owens and Ethan Manera the winner. Runner up went to Corfe with Us & Them directed by Dominic Edmond and third place went to Rolleston’s Murder at Merryweather Mansion , directed by Harrison Lund. The Best Director award for the realisation of script as a cohesive and compelling play went to Dominic Edmond for Corfe’s Us & Them , the Best Actor award for the outstanding creation of a
Christ’s College Canterbury
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