1981 School Magazine

Pr&TII&

Senior Drama Club The lights dim on another ol our performances in the l98l Jean Trundle Drama Competition. Despite various setbacks, such as our lone prop almost falling apart on stage, our tim- ing being six minutes too short, and one actress left stranded on the sinking boat when the lights did not fade, the senior drama group perlormed together well to uphold the Gram- mar tradition of successlul acting. In our second, rnore polished entry into the competition, Joh Bjelke Petersen forgot his socks and the Russian guard had to resort to smoking Alpine. Although the adjudicator could not appreciate our more un- conventional scripts and was unimpressed by our lack olcon- cern for liner details, we all benefited from, and thoroughly enjoyed, our two nights on stage at the Arts Theatre. The trophy we won last year, now goes to Star of the Sea who won this year's final. However the Jean Trundle Competition was only the highlight in an interesting year of dramatic activity. Every Friday afternoon, a small group of girls met in the seminar rooms to learn about and practise improvisations, acting and mime techniques. Passers-by were astonished at the contor- tions and noises emanating from this room. Thanks must go to Mrs. Prescott and Madonna Sticklen for the able teaching, help and support we received during the year. Although we must say good-bye to Margaret, Megan, Sue, Suzanne, Ingrid and Fiona, we hope Elizabeth and Kate can continue the group and encourage some Grade l0's to join. All the best lor 1982. Sharon Mickan and Fran Lowe.

The Combined Play The Combined Play this year was 'The Ten Little Niggers', by Agatha Christie. The play was perlormed on the l4th, l5th and l6th of May. We started practices about three months earlier. It was a small cast of eleven and a small crew, so we all got to be very good lriends over those months. In the last two weeks before the opening night we regularly stayed late after school. The first few of these practices we went down town for our hour dinner break. This stopped very soon, because much to our directorb (Mr. Bell) displeasure,we always came back twenty minutes late, in very. high spirits, and not concentrating very well. So we had to eat boarders' meals. This was even more of an adventure than going down town. The performance ol the play turned out very well although there were a lew accidents on stage. On the lirst night, the broken nigger, who was supposed to be behind the chair on the floor, was under the chair, to the in- convenience of Miss Brent. On the second night a candle was left lit on stage, and the sup- posedly dead judge got up and walked oflf. On the last night, the lrench doors were closed, but also lock- ed, so when Mr. Blore was supposed to push them open and rush through, he ran right into the door, putting his hand through it and nearly making the whole set come down on Vera and Lombard. The play was a great success and we had record audiences every night. Special thanks must go to our director Mr. Bell, and the cast and crew who all did a marvellous job. Wendy Edis.