Show-stopping performance by Year 7 and 8 students

The junior members of our Theatre Company excelled themselves at their recent performance of Race To Be Seen, at the Georgian Theatre Royal.  Directed by Mr Birdsall and Guy Feakins, in Year 9, the ensemble performance was made up of 20 Year 7 and 8 students who took the roles of performers and backstage crew.

For many of the students in this cast, it was their first time performing, especially on a professional stage, and it was great to see so many younger students ignite their passion for the arts.

Mr Birdsall said: “The group worked incredibly hard especially given the added challenge of Covid-19 and the implications surrounding the pandemic. Even with a performer catching Covid the week of the performance, the cast stepped up brilliantly and still delivered a show-stopping performance. I am hugely grateful for the support of Guy and I know the younger students have looked up to him and enjoyed being led by him.”

“As one performance goes down we are starting three more! The juniors are teaming up with the senior group of Richmond School Theatre Company to create an outdoor Shakespeare Comedy festival which will be made up of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ and ‘Twelfth Night’to be performed under the stars. Keep your eyes peeled for the date!

On the day of the dress rehearsal it was great to see former student Saul Tuite who called in to deliver a fantastic workshop with the students ahead of the show.

The story of ‘Race To Be Seen’ describes the events of how an award-winning play came to be written about the amazing World Champion Blind Athlete Graham Salmon MBE, who tragically died in 1999. It charts his parents’ story when, as a baby, Graham had to have both eyes removed due to an incurable eye cancer. It follows his schooldays and how he was expelled for running a book as well as his trials in trying to secure a job and finally, his incredible sporting success! Graham went on to play golf for the international visually impaired team. He hit the headlines again for hitting a hole in one.  His final battle was against cancer. Graham surrendered first his leg and then his life…but never became downcast…he wanted his autobiography to be called Wide Eyed And Legless!