Middle School Drama Club Performance

‘Six Simple Steps to Avoiding an Apocalypse’

The Middle School Drama Club, as a rule, meets after school each week and unlike the auditioned drama groups, it is for any student who would like to try something new, improve their confidence or simply gain acting experience. With a focus on improvisation and drama games, the club has proven to be a huge success with Year 7-10 students who are willing to jump into every activity with commitment.

Whilst lockdowns presented some challenges, it was fantastic to see the numbers of students swell this year, requiring an extra tutor to be brought in so the students could be split into a Year 7-8 group and a Year 9- 10 group.

Each Wednesday, barring lockdowns of course, the students met and got underway with a game before being given a prompt to create a short performance in groups to present to the others. The prompts ranged from random words to locations, fairy tales and emotions, allowing the students to learn and grow a little more each week.

Their skill in stagecraft developed as they learned audience awareness and how to listen and respond to other actors. Their sets became more interesting as they unleashed their imagination upon the Drama room’s ‘black boxes.’ They became more confident and creative with characterisation but most of all, they learned how to tell a story. The rise and fall of tension and action, conflict and excitement, joy and laughter, all those things that we look to when we want some good old fashioned escapism – and in a year such as this, they have learned its value!

Terms 3 and 4 were spent creating a whole new piece from scratch ready to perform to family and friends. The process of devising the piece was something entirely new as the group set out to ensure that every student had a chance to shine on the night. Each week, the ‘prompt’ was centred on the idea of ‘a newly created world’ and all the ideas that could come from it. 

Each run through added another spark idea or character to a growing list and eventually, the story began to write itself - ‘Six Simple Steps to Avoiding an Apocalypse,’ a piece of theatre in six scenes starting with the creation of the world.

Due to some underhanded sneakiness, the people of this world are in terrible trouble and as the scenes progressed, jumping forward in time, the story unfolded. Starting with the creation and then moving to a group of not-so-happy campers, we then came to learn all about social media star, Chad, followed by a villainous meeting, then over to a group of spirited rebels, and finally back where it all began.

Each and every performer did a fantastic job bringing together their scenes for the performance and creating a piece of art they could truly be proud of. This was their moment to shine, and shine they did, concluding another wonderful year of Middle School Drama Club where the talent and enthusiasm was clear to see!

The students have guidance from itinerant drama teacher, Ben Moore, along with Amelia Ayres and Erin Meek, two Old Collegians who are pursuing a career in Performing Arts related occupations.

It is a fantastic way for the students to learn all facets of performance, resulting in growth in both personal skill and self-confidence on the stage. And, of course, it’s fun! 

Well done to the students for their performance last night, it was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

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