Max Rushton Reports.....

Date: Friday 27 March 2009

Three Senior School events in the last twenty-four hours involved Max Rushton (Wagner, Lower Sixth), and these are his feelings about them.

The visit to 'Oliver'. A coachload of Drama and Theatre Studies pupils, largely from the fifth forms, went to London to see the latest production of 'Oliver', expecting to see Rowan Atkinson as 'Fagin'. He was on holiday! - but his understudy was brilliant, and was no way out of place in a 'conservative' production, which, nonetheless, had a fresh feel about it. 'Oliver' himself was a 'bit dry', emotionally detached from the piece, but the set design was fabulous, and Nancy - a winner of the Lloyd Webber TV talent show - had an amazing voice. Bill Sikes was suitably well-padded, and brutal!

The 'Splendid Theatre Company'. Theatre Studies and GCSE Drama pupils had the chance to see, in the flesh, a production of the Brechtian drama, 'Woyzeck', when members of the Splendid Theatre Company visited today to give the performance, and to lead a workshop on Brechtian theatre techniques. The audience empathised with the hero/anti-hero, driven to murder by the infidelities of his wife. The whole session proved of real benefit to those offering Brecht as both AS and A2 exam elements.

Wagner House Fashion Show. Wagner House have for some time been working to raise funds for the charity 'Shelter', and Housemaster Leigh Millard is running the London Marathon in the Easter holidays to swell the collection. Today, House members and friends put on a Fashion Show in the Hall at lunchtime - the audience paid £1 for the privilege of watching Wagnerites parading in costumes purchased from local Charity shops, or created out of a range of strange artefacts. While this was going on, buskers performed in odd areas of the School encouraging generous passers-by to toss coins into collection bags. Over £150 was raised in just under an hour - a fabulous return! The Headmaster paraded himself in beachwear, as he joined in the spirit of the event, which was 'won' by Charlie Burns and Tom Plumptre - a Warneford guest - whose costume was constructed out of various 'household utilities', mops and the like. David van Rooyen and Joe Rawlins raised the princely sum of £16 from their musical efforts, the best single collection of the day.

Thank you, Max, for your reports; without your presence in my classroom at 3.15pm, I would have been little the wiser about this excellent Wagner initiative!