Drama Academies deliver wicked & wonderful tales

Year 9 Drama Academy

Our Year 9 and Year 10 Drama Academies took to the stage recently to present an exciting evening of devised theatre for a public audience.

Devised drama places students at the heart of the creative process, requiring them to generate ideas, develop storylines, and bring performances to life as a team.

The Year 9 students delighted the audience with a lively and imaginative production that brought together beloved fairytale characters in a bold new way. Manuka Lam Way described their creative process:

“The story is that Humpty Dumpty and his three minions try to reap revenge on fairytale land. The three princesses - Snow White, Belle, and a farmer’s daughter try to stop them and go on their own journeys along the way."

"We put the script together by gathering some of our favourite fairytales, taking locations and characters and making our own stories using them. Then, when we had an outline of the plot points, we split up into groups and acted them out. We continued doing that, like a funnel, until we had what we wanted, and then Ms Stone wrote the script around that," says Manuka.

Their process highlights the collaborative and exploratory nature of devised drama, where ideas are tested, refined, and shaped through performance. The result was a highly entertaining and imaginative show that captured the audience’s attention from beginning to end.

The Year 10 group drew inspiration from The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, weaving its themes into a darkly humorous production. Hanaia Toilalo, who played the judge, reflected on the experience:

“For our play we took main ideas from the story called The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas and we used different strategies to put our main ideas together to create this show. Alongside Arsema and Aralyn, us three wrote the script based on what we thought would create a funny, uplifting and entertaining show - which we are proud to say we achieved.

"As Year 10s, this was our second last show in Drama Academy and we are very thankful that it was a success. We had a lot of trouble with shortage of time, but we managed to pull everything together by everyone participating and working together as a team. I love my team and I love acting, and together we created a wonderful show," says Hanaia.

"The show taught me that even though some ideas and things may be better than others, we have to be appreciative and grateful for the things that we have and the people that are in our lives.”

Despite time pressures, the group demonstrated remarkable teamwork and determination, ultimately delivering a performance rich in both humour and meaning.

Congratulations to our Year 9 and Year 10 Drama Academies, and a big thank you to Ms Stone and Ms Kettley for their guidance and support. We look forward to seeing how these talented students continue to grow and shine on stage in the future.

Year 10 Drama Academy