The War of the Worlds

The final week of Norwich School’s end of school year arts festival, “Gather 26”, saw them take to an outdoor performance in the beautiful setting of “The Quad”. With a very warm greeting from everyone, I went through the entrance to the courtyard and instantly felt a sense that something magical and different was about to happen. The seating for the audience was placed opposite a grassed area, natural to perform on, as well as entrance and exit paths leading to this focal point. The medieval chapel, overlooking the grounds and standing beside the old house, helped create a sense of being transported back to the late nineteenth century, when the original book was written.  I share Director Gavin Bromley’s interest of HG Wells’ novel and remember feeling terrified as a child watching the original 1953 movie. This had been cleverly adapted, updated, and narrated by Gavin. The final scene, depicting the approach to landing on Mars by the NASA Explorer and Artemis space vehicle at the end to bring the story into the present day and beyond was a particularly creative and imaginative piece.

The costumes were very good, aside from the occasional white sock being visible, and there were some excellent props, including Alien Tripods rising above a wall and a pupil-operated puppet depicting the alien creature searching for its prey on Earth. The “Red Weed”, draped across benches around the set, was also highly effective. Dry ice was used whenever the aliens attacked, creating an atmospheric effect as the “evaporated” humans disappeared behind a strategically placed screen.

The cast had to project well, given the nearby sounds of busy Norwich city life. Aside from one or two very brief moments when parts of the script were difficult to hear, both volume and clarity were excellent, as were the performances throughout.

Leading the way was William Clarke as The Journalist, who was outstanding in his delivery, reactions, narration, and facial expressions. Charlie Barker gave a particularly strong performance as the Artillery Man, while Tom Hardy was equally impressive as Priest Nathaniel, especially during the character’s descent into the loss of faith and sanity as he becomes convinced that the Martians are demons sent by Satan to punish humanity.

The supporting cast was also excellent, including Rosie Burton as Professor Ogilvy, Ella Barnovschi as Beth, and Beth Stevens as Carrie. I was especially impressed by the focus shown by the rest of the cast during the crowd scenes, convincingly portraying ordinary people going about their daily lives before descending into terror as the Martians began their invasion. Several cast members have appeared in multiple productions over the past few weeks, making their performances even more impressive. A big well done to everyone for successfully learning and performing different roles simultaneously.

Thank you to all at Norwich School for inviting us to Gather 26 and yet another very enjoyable evening,

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