Susan Smith

Senior Drama Performances 6th and 7th of August

The Senior Drama students completed their final live performances for their course on Tuesday and Wednesday evening this week. In keeping with what has been an ‘interesting’ year the performance was impacted by bereavement, COVID, the weather and Mrs. Smith moving on to her new adventure.

The first performance each night was ‘The Private War of Corporal Cooper’ – by John Broughton. A cast of two; Tiara Tiania as Sister Bartholemew and Daniel Gibbens as Corporal Johnny Cooper; brought us an emotional tale from World War One and the long-distance correspondence between a front-line corporal in France and the Nun who made him socks in a Dunedin convent. Tiara brought strong emotion to her role. Daniel animated Johnny’s life in war-torn France and the emotional rollercoaster brought by Sister Bartholemew’s notes and the horror of war. The play was directed by Maddy Sweetman.

The second performance was ‘An Illustrated Death of Eddie Fivetrees’ – by Simon O’Connor. This is a play about the relationship between a girl, Laura (Alyssa Rose) and her eccentric elderly neighbour Eddie Fivetrees (Ciaran Thow). A much lighter tone than the previous play it explored the last days of Eddie through the eyes of Laura, his ability to be an individual and his ability to stand up against authority and bureaucracy. Other cast members were Jacob Stephenson as Ken/Dad, Kahlen Harnett as Mum/Avril, Maddy Sweetman helping with voices and Mrs. Smith played the adult Laura who provided the narration for the play. The play was directed by Daniel Gibbens.

Special Thanks goes out to Andy Smith who helped with set making and various tasks and especially Jonathon Goodall who provided valuable equipment and time to provide us with an impressive light set up and sound. Mrs. Smith and the opportunities she has provided our students will be greatly missed. We wish her well.