Our Drama students report on performing in 2022.

Captain Of Drama Report 2022

The Highs, The Lows and the No Goes, Damn COVID!

By Leo Hayes

Through 2022, COVID-19 has taken away many opportunities for young high school students to participate in the Performing Arts. Due to the mass amount of COVID cases and limitations on gatherings, the school was unable to do our annual school production alongside our sister school HGHS. Although the girls still had many opportunities such as the Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival, Waikato Theatre Sports competition and the Super 8 Arts and Cultural Festival. In Term 1, Mr Ashton (Teacher in Charge of Drama) began to audition and rehearse students throughout all year levels for the Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival, but due to COVID being our number one competitor for our shot at the regional competition we were unable to successfully get our video submission for the performance done in time for our deadline. With two major drama and performing events in 2022 discarded due to COVID restrictions, drama was short of having any highly acknowledgeable events to commend.

However, we still had the Super 8 Arts and Cultural Festival that was held in Napier. We had the Senior and Junior Theatre Sports teams competing against other schools around the central North Island region but had no act for the Drama section. Twenty minutes into the bus ride, Mr Ashton thought of an idea to take a section from the play “Fences” by playwright August Wilson and enter that act into the Drama performance due to being informed that only three other schools would be competing. Within 24 hours, myself, James Huni and Brooklyn Lee had to memorise lines and rehearse our performance over and over again seconds before we had to perform. Overall our performance placed third, giving us a point towards the overall score towards the schools goal of placing first to win the Super 8 Competition.

The same performance was then performed at the HBHS Arts and Cultural Showcase evening but had Sailosi Havea act as Cory.

Throughout the year, I taught Theatre Sports to students of all year levels on Wednesdays and Fridays at lunch time. The boys had been preparing themselves throughout the term and then participated in the Waikato Theatre Sports competition. After three events the Junior Theatre Sports team came first in each event and were on the top of the table. The Juniors won the finals, taking the trophy back to HBHS.

I study Drama... why?

By Flynn Barlow (Year 12)

My name is Flynn Barlow and I take Drama. I started taking Drama as a subject in Year 10 and I still do to this day.

Taking Drama has allowed my self confidence to truly flourish and expand to a point that I can now openly express myself without any doubt in the back of my mind holding me back.

When I first joined Drama, I was a shy and anxious person who struggled to put my ideas out into class discussions. Over the years, I went through various different struggles that allowed me to learn and develop as a person.

Being fully honest, there were aspects of the class that were difficult to deal with. For instance, working in groups with students who didn’t care enough to try, definitely made succeeding more difficult than it could’ve been. There is a lot of group work in Drama and so the people you work with can either hinder or elevate your chances of success. Aside from that, Drama still had enough of an impact on me to open my eyes and see myself and the worlds around me in new and different ways.

This subject allowed me to learn and enhance skills such as leadership, teamwork, and communication. I was given the role of Class Captain in Year 10 which allowed me to learn how to man the ropes when the teacher is unavailable and work still needs to be done. In Year 11, I was around mostly the same people from the previous year. The extra time helped us grow closer and I was also able to learn a lot about these guys and their lives. Developing real and meaningful friendships in the class has been one of the greatest benefits. In Year 12, I was able to experience working with both Year 13 and other Year 12 students. I was able to learn from others who had been in the class for the last five years which definitely helped me to become the best me I can be.

Sadly, I don’t always think Drama is the most amazing class ever. There have been multiple Drama assessments that I found difficult and sometimes struggled to have success with. I think there is a false impression about Drama. Some people think it is all fun and games and playing “silly buggers”, but it is actually really challenging, both creatively and academically. Even through the struggles and failures I was still learning, still growing. In fact, I now realise that I probably learned more from my mistakes and missteps than my successes. Drama is all about presenting your knowledge and skills for feedback and it is the feedback that highlights your shortcomings that helps you to hone your performance skills for the better. Don't get me wrong, who doesn’t like a round of applause, but being shown where you need to improve and then making those improvements is ultimately satisfying.

Overall, if you take Drama, you will gather valuable life skills and will grow friendships from the most unexpected places. You will grow in confidence, learn to be resilient and you will never regret it.

Study Drama now!

We Won! We Won! We Won!

By Waikato Theatre Sports Champions Matthew Colvin and Mateo Miller-Ble (Year 10)

2022 was a great year for the Junior Theatre Sports team. We improved so much from last year, coming third in the Super 8 Cultural Festival, helping our school win overall. We also won every game we played in the regional Theatre Sports competition at the Meteor Theatre, and after a stellar effort by the team, we won the whole competition!

The Junior Theatre Sports team this year consisted of Mateo Miller-Ble (Junior Theatre Sports Captain), Daniels Longshaw, Samuela Tuwere, James Mackie, Matthew Colvin, and Callum Rae. Last year we didn't have that many people in our team, but this year we had so many talented students sign up. Leo Hayes (our Captain of Drama) helped put the team together and trained us to the level that we perform at today. The Theatre Sports team is also very grateful for Mr Ashton who organised the space for us to practice.

Theatre Sports is a great way to express creativity, develop quick thinking skills and be more confident with what you say and do. One of the most important aspects of Theatre Sports is building a good group dynamic, as without this the story or skit would crumble. Theatre Sports consists mostly of games intended to make participants think on their feet, cooperate with teammates, and see how out there they can go. In a competition, you play a game, and are marked on three things. First, story, how cohesive and interesting the characters and events you create. Then, technique, how well you utilise the different concepts and skills in drama, and how well you command the stage. Lastly, entertainment, and this is judged on how funny or engaging your scene is. It is also a great way to meet new people, make friends and it's something to do after school. The Theatre Sports Club meets for games and training every Friday at lunch time in the School Hall. It's a time where you can have fun and laugh and not necessarily play competitively.

Theatre Sports for me means a really fun time to hang out with my friends and practise my voices, my favourite thing to do. We always walk away to period 4 on a Friday giggling to ourselves and muttering under our breaths some of the funniest lines we came up with. It is truly the highlight of my week.