It has been wonderful for our School community to experience live theatre again with our first production taking place last weekend, and our Year 8 and 9 performing magnificently.

Two Weeks with the Queen

Congratulations to the cast, crew and production team of the brilliant Year 8 and 9 Play, Two Weeks with the Queen. It was a beautiful and mature piece of theatre that showcased the skills of our students in a wide range of roles on stage. The play explores challenging concepts of identity, illness, inclusion and grief, conveyed through the eyes of its optimistic and daring protagonist, 12-year-old Colin Mudford (played by Scarlet Russell, Year 9).

Every cast member worked diligently during Wednesday and Friday afternoon rehearsals, honing their acting skills and crafting complex characters, relationships and accents. The student audio-visual technicians, makeup artists, set painters and stage management team came on board later in Term 1 and helped to provide a clear sense of place, time and mood for the production.

The production was also an exercise in perseverance, as rehearsals were impacted by the 2020 lockdowns, where the cast diligently rehearsed lines over MS Teams. It was such a thrill for the cast and crew to be the first Drama Production to perform to live audiences on our stage in over 14 months, something for which everyone in the auditorium was very grateful. Freya Cantwell (Year 10) stepped in to cover the role of Aunty Iris just a few days before the show opened, and it was remarkable to watch the camaraderie, professionalism and resolve of the leading cast to succeed.

We were proud to collaborate with Thorne Harbour Health, previously the Victorian AIDS Council, to help raise funds and awareness about their important work in our community. Thanks should also go to the Creative Arts Auxiliary for their support with Front of House services and refreshments.

Thank you to the wonderfully committed and selfless group of students and staff, led by Mr Dylan Licastro, who contributed to this year’s Year 8 and 9 play, all of whom were able to reinforce the central messages of the piece: the importance of inclusion, the value of persistence, and the need for love and family when confronted with a crisis.

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Letters to Lindy

Hot on the heels of Two Weeks with the Queen comes the highly anticipated Senior Play, Alana Valentine’s Letters to Lindy. Over three decades, from baby Azaria’s death to the final coroner’s report, the public’s fascination with Lindy Chamberlain seldom waned. The National Library holds a collection of more than 20,000 letters to Lindy. From sympathy to abuse, from marriage proposals to death threats, the correspondence traverses the gamut of responses to Lindy’s story.

Letters to Lindy draws on this correspondence and interviews with Lindy herself. It is an enthralling, revealing, and long overdue dialogue between Lindy and the nation; a portrait of the wisdom and resilience of a grieving mother.

The VCE Theatre Studies class have embraced their roles in the production team, and the cast have been engaged in the subject matter throughout the rehearsal process.

Tickets will go on sale early next Term, with three performances scheduled for May 6, 7 and 8.