A Midsummer Night's Dream

For the past three years  Farlingaye High have been for the part of the RSC Associate Schools project working with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare is also part of their curriculum and this production supports the students later with their GCSE exams. Pippa decided to produce this play so their work could be seen by an audience and just six weeks later the show was produced. A wonderful achievement by you all! This was a lower school production with the students ranging in age from 11 to 13 years. The Shakespearean language is not easy to understand but all these students certainly did a fantastic job in learning their lines in such a short time.  

When Pippa mentioned auditions she received a total of 120 students come forward all wanting to be part of this production and not wanting to turn anyone away she decided the split them in half with each group putting on one performance.  So apologies to the other group of students who I was not able to see, but am sure were just as good.

The school’s art department were involved with the wonderful floral set and the students had also designed the lighting,  were working on the technical side of the production and Titania had painted the poster. As we entered the studio we were meet with some magical music and fairies floating around the set giving us beautiful origami flowers which they had also made.  A lovely touch to create just the right mood for the play. 

There were some standout performances from this enormous cast and  I can only pick out a few as there were far too many of you to name individually, so again apologies for those I can’t include.

The four lovers in this performance were Emily Davey, Saoirse Morgan, Gabe Roche & Sonny Franklyn and they all came over confidently and gave memorable performances. Daisy Wright was Bottom, a challenging role which she captured perfectly.  Annabelle Ward was Quince. I have seen this young lady on stage before and she was impressive in this role as she tries to inspire her fellow actors in the play she is directing.  Mention must also go to Reuben Digpal, Isobel Pilsworth & Clem Anderson in their roles as Oberon, Titania and Puck. Their characters were all very believable and they  thrived in their respective roles. 

 Indeed all this young and talented cast were impressive as they worked together to support their fellow actors. This was also was evident at the end of the performance when they had organised themselves, taking it turns in thanking all their teachers for their help and hard work in producing this wonderful production. I think their words say it better than I can.

Well done to you all. I will look forward to seeing you in your next production.

Catherine Dixey. NODA East Representative District E12

 

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