Festival of Poetry & Drama
Ian McEwan (writer)
Our Festival began in 2005 and grew out of a need for our Speech and Drama students to have a regular opportunity to perform in front of an audience. It takes place over the course of three days in March or April of each year. There are a series of competitions that take place over the three days, in Solo Acting, Poetry Speaking, Duologue Drama and Shakespeare and all students must enter at least one of them.
The Festival has grown in popularity and in size since it began, requiring us to have two external adjudicators and two separate venues within the school. During our Festival week we also have a staging of our Drama Club play and our entry from the One Act Drama Competition held in St Andrew’s College.
On the final night of The Festival, we have our Prizewinners Concert, where the students who have come first in each competition perform again for the adjudicators and for parents and friends. At the end of this concert, the adjudicators will decide on the recipients of their two special awards: The Senior Adjudicators Prize eligible for students in fifth and sixth year and The Junior Adjudicators Prize for first to fourth years. This is always a very special evening in our department’s calendar.