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THE ALLEYNIAN 709
DRAMA & DANCE
This year’s GCSE drama cohort presented extracts from Simon Stephens’ Punk Rock , reflecting a world in which teenagers are faced with a multitude of challenges, says Kathryn Norton-Smith
GCSE DRAMA PUNK ROCK
Stephens’ fin-de-siècle play has been described as the History Boys meets Columbine, and the duologues from the play which were performed by the GCSE students laid bare the complexities of being a teenager in the modern world, drawing us into a series of gradually escalating conflicts. This past year has shown us that the world is ever-more complex; how apt then, that our talented debut GCSE cohort chose to explore this powerful, disturbing pressure-cooker play about teenage life at an elite British grammar school. The characters were on-centre for our 16-year-olds – they played Sixth Form students preparing for their mock A-level exams, each suffering under the enormous pressure that is imposed on them both by others, and by their own selves. The play builds up an inexorably growing tension that heralds the catastrophic climactic events in the penultimate scene. We were presented with snapshots of scenes and exchanges, and it was terrific to see the different interpretations each student brought to their character. In the play, Lilly Cahill is new to the school. William Carlisle, who has been there for five years, is helpful and welcoming to the seemingly shy Lilly, introducing her to the five denizens of this de facto private common room as they enter. Stephens shows how the teenagers live in a world of flawed perceptions. Lilly, who we had assumed was withdrawn and unconfident, turns out to be something quite different, learning to betray words spoken in confidence just as the other teens do. Meanwhile, we discover that William’s polite façade is one of many personae that he can assume at will. He keeps revising the facts of his biography in the hope of impressing Lilly. Gradually, we realise that the reason he has no friends within his little group is that they all know he is an inveterate liar.
While William’s obsessive pursuit of Lilly forms one strand of the play’s plot, bullying forms the other. Every time they are in the same room together, the obnoxious Bennett Francis verbally and physically abuses the young genius Chadwick Meade for a host of complex reasons. One reason is that Bennett is jealous of Chadwick’s genius and of his cosmic world view, which Bennett clearly lacks. Another is to impress on the others that he is the top dog of their little group. It also emerges that Bennett may be secretly attracted to Chadwick, and uses his aggressive behaviour to mask his true feelings and insecurities. Chadwick does nothing to prevent Bennett’s attacks and makes himself an easy target. As with the William–Lilly relationship, the Bennett–Chadwick relationship is not what it seems at first. Bennett is really a coward and only gets away with bullying Chadwick because the rest of the group does nothing to stop him or help Chadwick. As a result, the entire group is implicated in what Bennett does. Chadwick gives into Bennett not because he is weak but because from his cosmic perspective he realises that Bennett and what he does is utterly insignificant. The action of the play sees the William–Lilly plot strand gradually becoming entwined with the Bennett–Chadwick strand, ultimately with explosive results. By analysing this select group and their elite school, Stephens is exposing the rot that lies at the heart of the class system, showing how a sense of innate superiority in any group can lead to a sense of superiority with regard to ordinary rules of law, behaviour and morals. In our first public event for more than 15 months, the atmosphere in the EAT was electric. Our Year 11 GCSE actors made brilliant choices with character motivation and backstory, fully inhabiting their roles and creating vibrant and brilliant characterisation, to engaging and provocative effect.
The play builds up an inexorably growing tension that heralds the catastrophic climactic events in the penultimate scene
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