JPII Students Hosts Performance - Too Much Punch for Judy

The group consisted of five young actors and their tour manager.

Our students from Years 10 through to Year 13 attended the play, and they were joined by a group of Drama students from Westland High School.

The play, written by Mark Wheeler, is based on a true story that took place in England, in 1983, but the impact of this piece rings hard and true in New Zealand today. In 2019, 353 people died on our roads. 141 of those (37%) were in crashes involving a drunk driver.

It is the story of two young women, who, after an aerobics session followed by a trip to the local bar, decide to drive home after they have been drinking. A lot of the dialogue is taken directly from interviews with the people who were involved in or affected by the tragic accident. The play was very engaging, poignant, and thought provoking and “holds truth in the words of different people and their experiences with drink driving”.

Our Drama students were also given the opportunity to participate in a workshop with the actors. Kahlen Harnett said of the workshop, “It was awesome, and it made me feel more confident about being silly on stage.”

Frith Johns (HOD Arts)