DRAMA
THEATRES ARE CURIOUS PLACES…
Pictures: 1. Director Ned Bennett with AS Theatre Studies pupils 2. Journalist Mark Fisher 3. OA Laurie Davidson in the Archives, researching for his role as William Shakespeare
4 & 5. Thoroughly Modern Millie Photographs 4 & 5 by Nobby Clark
Kathryn Norton-Smith looks back at a vintage year for the Edward Alleyn Theatre
‘Theatres are curious places; magician’s trick-boxes where the golden memories of dramatic triumphs linger like nostalgic ghosts, and where the unexplainable, the fantastic, the tragic, the comic and the absurd are routine occurrences on and off the stage. Murders, mayhem, political intrigue, lucrative business, secret assignations, and of course, dinner.’ - E A Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes Of A Gadfly
T his seems a fitting account of much of the ephemeral and charmed activity that took place in the Edward Alleyn Theatre in 2015- 2016. Three commissions for major productions, in the Upper School ( The White Road ), the Middle School ( The Playhouse Apprentice ) and the Junior School ( Beaver Towers ); 24 House plays; a dozen theatre trips involving boys from every year group; outstanding academic achievements for the largest ever A-level cohort: this year has left us more than in need of a large dinner. If we staged a play every week, we would still be able to cherry-pick a cast. The desire in boys at Dulwich to take to the stage and become involved has never been greater, and so it’s fantastic that boys have also had the opportunity to perform at JAGS in productions of Thoroughly Modern Millie and The Boy Preference . What has bowled us over still further is the ongoing success of Old Alleynians working professionally in and achieving notable success the industry. One production at the Globe in the autumn featured no less than three OAs: David Sturzaker, Ekow Quartey and Angus Imrie. Quartey was nominated in 2015 for the prestigious Ian Charleson Award, and Imrie, while still training at Guildhall, features weekly as Josh Archer in The Archers . Currently appearing in Hamlet at the RSC, Marcus Griffiths was the British
Independent Film Festival’s winner of Best Supporting Actor for his role in Unhollowed Ground . Matt Jessup took time out of his lead role in The Railway Children to adjudicate the Lower School House Drama competition, and Laurie Davidson is about to explode onto our television screens in the TNT series Will – serendipitously in this quarto-centenary year, in the role of the young William Shakespeare. Pupils have relished workshops with industry professionals including Joe Hill-Gibbins, choreographer and practitioner Zak Nemorin, journalist Mark Fisher – who provided a fantastic insight into the world of reviewing for the theatre – and Ned Bennet (OA), awarded UK Theatre Award for Best Director for Pomona . In addition, three of our talented writers in the Middle School have been long-listed for the National Theatre New Views writers’ award. At the time of writing, preparations are in full swing for the Lower School production of Our Teacher’s a Troll (to be reviewed in Alleynian 705) and for a revival of The Playhouse Apprentice at the beginning of the autumn term to coincide with Edward Alleyn’s 450th birthday. That will definitely be time for a celebratory dinner…
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