VIRTUES College Committee Reports
ARTS & CULTURE 2020 was huge – and, through it all, the arts and the Arts & Culture committee flourished. From House Music, House Plays, Arts Week, Evita and more, students from every year group had the opportunity to embrace the arts. Coincidentally, merely one month after coming out of lockdown, both Arts Week and House Plays took place in the same week. While stressful for those on the committee and retirement inducing for Director of Drama David Chambers, we soldiered on – in the end creating a week where boys had more student- run opportunities to engage with the arts than ever before. In a single day, a boy could perform in the Arts Assembly, take part in spirited interhouse debating at lunchtime, and then take the stage in their House Play come 6.30pm. We kicked off this cultural bonanza on Monday, with a probably too edgy lunchtime comedy show, loosely plagiarising 7 Days to comedic effect. The teams of Year 13 students
Dominic Edmond, Max Luisetti, Henry Mossman and Josh Johnston, and Louis Gunn, Jamie Yee, Sam Averill and Elia Garrett provided laughs and plenty of spontaneity. However, the real highlights came from putting Biology teacher and magician Callum Bell and Drama gap student Devan Williams in the hotseat. That night, students' creativity shined onstage as Jacobs, School and the victorious Somes House performed in the Old Boys’ Theatre. This year we also celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the Old Boys’ Theatre. After an arduous but rewarding night of House Plays for many in the Arts & Culture committee and beyond, the anticipation for Wednesday’s interhouse musical chairs was palpable. In its second year, each House came prepared with two juniors and two seniors ready to go to battle for a seat. Students from all Houses came along to watch, and the raucous, rowdy and huge audience held high hopes for their warriors to make it to the very last song. Despite devolving into a game of tug of war as tension built, there is
nothing that can’t be resolved with a gentlemen’s game of paper, scissors, rock. Eventually, Year 12 student Jack Jones and Year 10 student Tom Foster, in their respective senior and junior grades, were crowned champions and earned prestigious Arts Week Sports Colours at the subsequent assembly. We wish these boys well in their endeavours to win back-to-back championships in 2021. Another Thursday, another assembly. As per usual the committee worked hard right up until the very last minute to deliver an assembly like no other. We made the decision as a committee to eschew the typical staff impersonations which have been a staple for years in order to be as creative and unpredictable as possible. This led to a surprise game of “Pin the tail on the Donny” under the guise of an Honours Tie presentation, with Executive Principal Garth Wynne, Deputy Principal Rob Donaldson and Dominic Edmond all failing to match Louis Gunn’s prowess, or cheating ability depending on who you ask. One of the highlights for many of the staff, however, was the parody of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills entitled “The Real Housemasters of Christ’s College”. This gave some of the Housemasters an opportunity to step outside their pastoral roles and showcase their sassy side. The annual staff vs student debate lives and dies on who the debaters are. With the Chapel triumvirate of Nick Sutcliffe, Chaplain Bosco Peters and Robert Aburn arguing that they would, in fact, bunk chapel, the turnout was massive, and the crowd was anything but passive. In spite of this, the trio of holiness was no match for the Christ’s College Alpha debating team in the eyes of adjudicator and
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Register 2020 Virtues
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