Witch hunts and the political hysteria of the 17^th century in Massachusetts provided an intriguing backdrop for the cast of the 2019 Senior Play, The Crucible, to explore the corruptive influence of power and the repression of women. Following months of rehearsals, the Senior School students were flawless in their performance at Opening Night this Thursday. The challenging script provided abundant material for our girls and the boys at St Kevin’s College to showcase the strength of their stagecraft.

Many of the girls have been working under the guidance of Head of Performing Arts, Mr James Brown, through our Senior School musicals and plays over recent years. Mr Brown draws on his own stage experience in musicals in Melbourne and the UK, to extend the students’ abilities year on year, with the depth of their talent clearly visible. Despite the complexity of the Arthur Miller’s script, all cast members immersed the audience in the trials of countless women accused of witchcraft.

In one of the lead roles, Grace Lloyd (Year 12) was formidable in her role as Abigail Williams, mastering the Yorkshire accent with perfect diction. Leading the terror with a haunting scene in the vestry of the Salem Meeting House, Grace in her role as Abigail, was captivating as she drew the audience into the sense of horror.

School Co-Captain, Kavina Kalaichelvam (Year 12), was almost unrecognisable in her role as the Reverend’s slave, Tituba and Clem Aston (Year 12) revealed a powerful stage presence as Giles Corey who stands up against the hysteria of the infamous Salem Witch Trials.

I wish to particularly mention our Year 12 students who performed on stage last night. Amelia Chambers with her impressive command of the script of Reverend John Hale. Charlotte Zelouf was convincing as Francis Nurse as was Adrianna Chai in her role as the diminutive Susanna Walcott and Hope Kudelka demonstrated her stage experience developed over a number of years at St Catherine’s in the opening scene.

Bianca Witts (Year 12), as the deeply caring and sensitive wife of John Proctor, demonstrated her well-crafted stage abilities by insightfully revealing the tension that goes with her character as she lies in an attempt to save her husband. As a VCE student in Theatre Studies, Bianca elected to design the set as part of her assessment, creating a masterful woodland scene as the backdrop. Grace Lloyd (Year 12) and Harriet Fortey completed the costume design also as part of their assessment for theatre studies.

This year, our Year 12 students are studying The Crucible in Term 3 as part of their VCE English curriculum and our Year 11 EAL students studied the play in Term 1, so the opportunity to perform in one of the lead roles undoubtedly provides an insight into the intricacies of the various characters, the Puritan community and minutiae of the plot.

All girls are to be so highly commended for their performances and I congratulate all cast and crew for their involvement. This is undoubtedly one of the strongest stage performances I have observed in school theatre and I encourage our community to attend the final two shows – Friday evening 6.30pm and Saturday afternoon 4.00pm.

Also not to be missed is the ever popular Barbreck Musical – Mary Poppins Jr. held on Thursday 23 May, 6.00pm and Friday 24 May, 1.00pm. Interestingly, many of the lead roles in the Senior School Play this year were held by students who commenced their stage performances as young Barbreck girls some years ago.

St Catherine’s School Fun Run/ Walk

I look forward to seeing many of our students, parents and staff on Sunday morning at 8.30am for our annual lap of The Tan – run, walk and bring your puppy for a gorgeous Melbourne morning of exercise and with the added benefit of raising money for the Monash Children’ Hospital.