House Speech And Drama Final

THIS YEAR’S HOUSE SPEECH AND DRAMA COMPETITION ENDED IN SUCCESS FOR A BOYS’ HOUSE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SIX YEARS.

School House were the eventual winners with an impressive 106 point score on an evening of brilliant performances.

With each house presenting a monologue, duologue, poem and set piece the standard was extremely high and a packed Neuadd Theatre was presented with darkness and light with a varied programme ranging from Tom Stoppard to Euripides.

The evening started with Alway House, who once again held their own against the senior houses. Under the direction of Mr Davies, the highlight was a great duologue performance of A Game of Soliders by Morgan and Rusiru, where the boys conveyed a believeable relationship throughout.

Following on from Alway was St David’s House, led by Drama Captain, Jack B. The programme was an intense collection, culminating in a dark and almost filmic presentation of the set text, ‘1984’ with some savage and memorable imagery.

DeWinton House stepped up next under the leadership of House Captains Lily P and Anna-Mae. The girls presented an interesting take on Polly Stenham’s ‘That Face’ and created a very physical, ensemble take on the set-text . This was a sterling effort to maintain the crown won at last year’s event. Donaldson’s House gave a great account of themselves under the direction of Drama Captain, Saoirse. A collection of committed and at times, disturbing performance was epitomised by the excellent monologue performance of the Greek Classic ‘Medea’ from Saoirse.

Orchard House presented a varied programme and with a rare moment of comedy on the evening with a nicely presented duologue based on Ronnie Corbett’s ‘Blackberry’ sketch performed by Matthew and Ethan. House Drama Captain, Daniel, performed Stoppard’s ‘Arcadia’ with an effective understanding of the challenging content.

The evening was stolen by School House, who won the event for the first time in the 14 years under Mr Sims’ tenure as Housemaster. Milo presented a terrific poetry performance with OCD, which was both moving and funny and totally engrossed the audience. Sore’s version of Al Pacino’s famous ‘Scent of a Woman’ speech was also very convincing and had the invigilator questioning whether his American accent was native. Wil W-D as House Captain received the coveted shield from adjudicator Michael Waters, Head of The Young Actors Studio at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Head of Drama, John Johnson, commented, “I’ve been blown away by the performances this evening” adding “the most impressive element of this evening is the fact that the pupils put the programme together themselves, organising rehearsals, read-throughs and technicals and showing their creative abilities in the set-text in particular. Year on year the standard seems to be rising and the bar has been set high for an even better competition in 2017!”