The Visions of Simone Machard - Year 13 Drama

We have been working steadily on "The Visions of Simone Machard" all term, and it is hard yakka.

However, dealing with Brecht has it's own rewards, and now that the end is nigh, it's starting to make sense.  In terms of Epic Theatre and in terms of Political theatre.

International Juggling Festival

A while back a group of Drama students took the day off school to run away to the circus.  Mary spent the day with them as they juggled, flew through the air on aerial hoops, spun plates.  They took part in workshops and more importantly, they taught some as well.  It was a good time had by all.

Amber in the hoop

Lilly in the hoop

The group: Lilly, Amber, Ryan, Nicki-Marie, Hayden and Rama (inverted)

Term 1 2015

Time really flies by so quickly, and with that, another term comes to an end.

Last year we farewelled Ms Lewis from the Dance Department, and this year we welcomed Ms Melchior into the whanau as her replacement.  So Dance has been ahum with changes and new directions for the last few months.

We started the year with a bang, being involved in the Greytown Arts Festival.  Nicki-Marie Campbell and Nicky Carlisle used their Circus skills to busk in the town centre, the musicians opened for "Tunes of I" and the Drama Department put on a 25 minute Flash-mob Shakespeare performance in the park, a combination of love scenes from 5 Shakespearean plays.

Keziah Stonnell as the Fool

The Cast of "Loves Labours Won"

Connor Fenwick and Nicki-Marie Campbell from "Taming of the Shrew"

Connor Taumoepeau as the Duke from "Twelfth Night"

Amber Spicer and Thor Elley as "Anthony and Cleopatra"

Then we were straight into the Sheillah Winn Festival of Shakespeare in Schools.  We rehearsed and performed "Henry VI, Pt 1", the Joan of Arc story from Shakespeare.  Though this was unplaced, we did win the 5 minute section with "Richard III" so we will be off to the national competition in June with Egan Tearle and Zoe Thurston performing.

The cast of "Henry VI, pt 1" led by Natalie Bennett as Joan of Arc

Term 2 brings more action with the Production getting underway, which will hopefully be "South Pacific"... we are just waiting on the rehearsal scripts.  Rockquest will again be a big thing, and the Music classes are getting their bands sorted.  In a few weeks we will be having the Junior Show Offs event which will showcase the skill in the Junior school.

"High School Magical"

I know... another post beginning with how busy we have been!  But... it is so true!

Anyway, in the middle of all the rest of everything else that is going on.... we have one last night on stage with "High School Magical" and we are getting rave reviews from the crowd!

The show starts at 7:00pm in the auditorium, doors open at 6:30 and there is even a coffee cart and eftpos! 

The show stars Zoe Renor as Cinderella, and Civic Cruz as Harry Prince.  As they try to negotiate through High School, magical forces keep them apart.  The Villian is played by Marlon Moala-Knox who is intent on stopping Cinderella from getting together with Harry.  Camille Healy is the Fairy Godmother who works to keep them together.

The main characters are supported by a bevy of interesting characters, from the flirtacious Step Mother (Gianna Pohl) and her pool boy Reynaldo (Mitchell Harman), to the ugly step sisters, the popular Britney (Sarah Philip), the nerdy Gertrude (Izabelle Brown) and the vampire Bella (Alessandra Giorgioni). 

Some of the more interesting characters enrolled in High School Magical include the less-than-brilliant Bruce the Jock (Finn Shepherd), the moves-like-Jagger Smooth Stu (Travis Brown), the beautiful soulful voice of Skux Simon (Oliver Healy), the hog-tying antics of Cowboy Chet (Dan Carlisle) and of course, a vegetarian zombie (Nick Smith).  While trying to fit in with the Cool Chicks (Kate Philip, Natalia Austin, Moana Braithwaite and Giorgia Giorgioni), Cinderella ends up as the butt of all the jokes in school.

The show is hilarious if I do say so myself.  If the antics aren't enough, the Pantomime horse (Joel Charters and Joe Garratt) and the 4 cupids help to take the humour to a whole new level.

If you are free, and have $5 burning in your pocket, come along for an amazing night of music, laughter, entertainment and short-shorts.

The poster, designed by Civic Cruz

Finn Shepherd, Travis Brown and Oliver Healy

The Cool Chicks: Kate Philip, Natalia Austin, Moana Braithwaite and Giorgia Giorgioni

The Step Sisters: Sarah Philip, Izabelle Brown, Alessandra Giorgioni

Sugarlumps and Bruce: Joel Charters and Finn Shepherd

A couple of Cupids: Oliver Healy and Mitchell Harman

Marlon Moala-Knox and Camille Healy

Finn as Bruce with Civic Cruz as Harry Prince

Walter Barber recites for the Nerds

Bruce gets a prom date - Sarah Philip and Finn Shepherd

Oliver Healy singing... afterall, he is in the band with No Direction

Gianna Pohl waits for her Pool Boy, Reynaldo

That time we met with Gandalf

This year we performed "King Lear".  2 years ago, Finn was told he was too short to be in "The Hobbit".  This last weekend, our luck was in, and we met with the man who links both parts- Sir Ian McKellan.

Ian was in Carterton raising money to rebuild the Royal Theatre in Christchurch.  We were not far behind because we love a chance to talk Shakespeare with a legend.  A group of 10 of us headed out to see him on Sunday, sitting in the front row.

The highlights were many, but when we all had a chance to join him on stage, we thought all our dreams had come true!  He was superb onstage, humble offstage, and incredibly generous with his time with us.

We had a blast, and gained a new appreciation for a legend of Stage and Screen.

With Sir Ian McKellan from left:  Travis Brown, Oliver Healy, Mr. Buckham, Juanita McLellan, Finn Shepherd, Chris Buckham and Izabelle Brown.

Rocking out at Rockquest 2012

Ms Webster, Cody Field and Jason Ireland have been working tirelessly with the Kuranui bands to get them ready for Rockquest, and it was an epic night.

We entered 3 and a half bands.... as Sciatica was made up of 4 band members, 2 of which came from Kuranui.  Korona joined Sciatica, along with Rockquest veterans Borderline Frequency and Amplifted.  As a school we were privileged to hear the bands play before the competition, and they were epic.

On the night, our bands performed particularly well, getting a great deal of support from the crowd.  Korona, our Junior Band, won the People's Choice Award, which was a big win considering the number of entries and the high calibre of the competitors, so well done to all the bands, especially to Korona members Bethany Patten, Joe Garratt, Daniel Aburn and Sarne McGillicutty.

Bethany Patten singing with Korona

Korona members from left:  Sarne, Daniel, Bethany and Joe

Luther McCullough, front man and guitar for "Sciatica"

Theatresports 2012

Phew!  It has been an epicly busy week with Theatresports.

We entered 3 Junior teams, 2 Senior Novice teams and 3 Senior Open Grade teams.  All of the competitors worked hard leading up to their competitions learning the games and sharing the coaches.  Then we set for performance, and we did well.

The Junior teams each competed fairly and provided a great deal of fun for the audience.  The Senior Novice teams worked well together and amazed the crowd and our Open teams, including people who had never competed before, stood up to the standard required nicely.

We ended up with 3rd in the Senior Novice section and winning the Junior division this year.  Our Open grade teams all did well, with "Girls Just Want to Have Fun With Finn" making the finals.  Their ballet in performance achieved a nearly perfect score.

All in all, we had a great time and the kids went above and beyond the call of duty.  Oliver Healy worked the scoreboard all week, Zoe Renor and Dan Carlisle took turns time keeping.  Mary was brilliant, driving the school van and dropping our team home in the evenings.

We would also like to congratulate Chanel College on their win in the Theatresports competition.  This is the first time since the competition began in the early 90's that Chanel have won the overall trophy, and it was a well deserved win indeed.

Warming up backstage

"The FFG" performing for the first time - Connor, Cheryl-Kay, Jacob and Nadia.

The Year 9 team - "The International Chicken Unit"

Camille Healy and Moana Braithwaite in "Wordball" - Moana is of course a unicorn.

Finn Shepherd, Zoe Renor and Jasmine Turner performing "Gibberish Interpreter"

Ale Giorgioni (with Jasmine arms) and Travis Brown (with Finn arms) performing a riotous "Hands Interview" in the final.

The Overall Junior Champions - "The Milkshake Ninjas" in "Slow-Mo Commentary".  Connor Taumoepeau, Joe Garratt, Nicky Carlisle and Toyah Churton.