The House Play Festival 208

‘Cinderella’
House No,1
No.1 opened the House Play Festival with an entertaining portrayal of ‘Cinderella’ directed by Will Borrell. No.1 has always been known to produce well directed and funny house plays and this time the boys chose a customised version of Cinderella. The main characters were played by Adam Grech (the Prince), Ed Davenhill (Cinderella), Dom Tilliard (Dandini) Clement De Montebeurt (Miguel), Sebastian Cheshire (evil step-mum), Will Borrell (step-sister) and Francesco Mussita (step-sister).
All the boys were very entertaining and worked hard in their roles. Well done to No.1 for starting the festival off really well.




‘Tomkinson’s School Days’
House No.2

A version of the novel Tom Brown’s Schooldays, this was a very funny play. Men dressed as women teamed with the witty jokes and amusing costumes helped to provide a very entertaining play for the audience. Johnny Chapman played the main character Tomkinson, who attends a school which he dislikes intensely and from which he is desperate to escape. He is terrorised by the School bully Alexander Cornelius. The Headmaster was played by Tim Walker. Oliver Mead was very funny as the school chicken, as was Muktar Shagaya in his pink dress, as Tomkinson’s mother. This play used special effects very well encorporating an entertaining interlude with a rugby match which was displayed on the screen above the stage.
Well done to everyone involved.




‘Alice in Wonderland’
House No.3

‘Alice in Wonderland’ was directed by Pru Beaumont and Romy Welsch
It has always been held as a universal truth that a girls’ house find it less easy to produce an amusing play because they cannot use the old standby of comic costume in the same way as boys houses can. The reviewer did not agree with this and neither would No.3. They delivered a spirited and amusing performance of Lewis Carrol’s well known book which was a great success.



‘Daisy pulls it off’
House No.4


No.4’s contribution to the House Play Festival was performed on Sunday evening. The play focussed on a girl name Daisy who attends Graybridge School which faces being closed down. Daisy saves the school from closure by finding a treasure and wins the admiration of all.
Charlotte Rugeroni played the part of Daisy, while Dani Close acted the character of Sybil and Joanna Smith was the Headmistress. This house put on an enjoyable performance which was well received by the audience.




‘How dare you’
House No.5

Written and directed by James Sheppard, Jonty Hylands and Ben March this was
an adaptation of a BBC Three series and not totally appreciated as such by the audience. The play was at times amusing but the story-line was hard to follow. Of course, one must bear in mind the fact that a substantial number of people were not familiar with the orgininal programme.
Some entertaining video sequences helped to carry the play through, but it general it could be said the play left something to be desired.


‘john Tucker Must Die’
House No.6

This was a romantic comedy and performed well by the cast. Enormous work went into this production and it was well carried on the night.



‘The Good the Bad and the Sexy’
House No.7

‘This was the best play I’ve ever seen No.7 do’ said the student reviewer, ‘and it was definitely amongst the top house plays this year.’ With a variety of films used as the basis for the plot, ‘The Good’, led by Anchorman (Richard Bockel), ranged from Harry Potter (Alasdair Higgins) to James Bond (Leo Manibando), while the evil, led by Voldemort (Roland Stirling), ranged from Gollum (John Gill) to Puss in Boots (Ramon Villa-Blanco). Despite having no plot to speak of, the play was fast moving, well acted and hilarious. All the people involved put on a great performance and No.7 rounded off Friday night brilliantly.



‘Bang Bang, you’re Dead’
House No,8

The storyline of the play was dramatic, full of twists and a lot of very good performances, which resulted in an unpredictable but very entertaining piece.
The house managed to perform the play in a manner in which it was clearly understood whilst keeping the play entertaining. There were some memorable performances from Hannah Campbell, who played the husband, Jenny Simpson, the manipulative secretary, Lucie Harris, who played the wife, Chrissi, as the friend and Jenny Dickinson, who played the lover. There were also good performances from Verity, Amy and Ropa who provided live music during the play.



‘Blackadder’
House No.9

House 9 was the penultimate play of the festival, and the last boys’ house to perform, and so had a lot to live up to. However, with their rendition of Blackadder the Third’s First Episode, they had nothing to fear.
The play was well acted by Henry Wootton as Blackadder, Alistair Braithwaite as Bolderick, Piers Odlum as the Prince Regent, John Gilbert as the Prime Minister, Pitt the Younger, and Alasdair Moore appeared as Mrs Miggins.
The audience thoroughly enjoyed the play, and helped hide the many scene changes in this complicated play by whistling to the Blackadder theme tune.

‘Cindiana Jones and the Temple of Poon’

The Temple of Poon play was written and directed by Bami Afolabi. The play was well directed and was hilarious throughout. The costumes were very well designed and the boys seemed to have put a lot of work into the play, which made it outstanding. Well done to all the actors and Director Bami for making arguably the best house play of the festival.



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