Fighting malady with melody since 2011

A sell out audience were treated to a wonderful evening of delightfully different entertainment last Friday. The night opened with a performance of Moses Supposes by Sole Rebel Tap. This was a lovely high energy tap dancing piece by Hannah De Cancho and Katie Ballard, who also teach regular tap classes for all abilities in Oxford. If you live near by, then check out their website for more details!

It was then the turn of a cast of our GCSE students to tread the boards with their recent examination piece. The performance, devised entirely by the students, was loosely based on their own version of a 'medicine show', but which included a mix of physical theatre, commedia dell arte, modern mask work and absurdest theatre. It followed the journey of a man to track down Oswin Owl (who is certainly not a banker!) who had snatched his innocent children. After a variety of mishaps that would make Gonzo Moose proud, the man is reunited with his children and Mr Owl who explains through song (It Must Be Love, by Madness) the reasons for stealing the kids! A member of the audience took the time at the end of the show to say how much he loved the performance:

"The students were a pleasure to watch. The physicality was wonderful and I loved the strength of the characters."

Praise indeed! Well done to Oliver Webb, Jack Matthewson-Inglis, Michaella Penfield and Izzy Rowand.

The stage was then reset for Curious Company's first in-theatre performance! The company, made up of Louise Rennie, Marie-Lou Flexen, Steven Skinley, Russel Boodie and Pete Russer, are used to performing outside at festivals and fairs and taking their own brand of 'Curious' to the streets. Dr Russet's Travelling Medicine Show was a splendid mix of live music, laughter, singing, dancing and an old lady's wind that would work in any setting.

Curious Company's show enforces the idea that the true power of healing lay in the act of song and dance rather than the potions themselves. Taking inspiration from 1930s jazz, blues and folk, Tap dance and Charleston, Vaudeville and Music Hall, fused with more contemporary influences the Curious Company cast have created a piece of theatre that offers both a taste of nostalgia, and a reflection on the restorative properties of entertainment and human interaction.

The audience were invited on stage at various points to get involved with 'fighting malady with melody' and as a result, the atmosphere of the evening was as effervescent as an offering from Russett's own Homespun Wonder Tonic.

Thank you to Curious Company for a marvellous show. We're looking forward to the next time already!

An unusual variety of dance and commedia!

We had over 40 students perform last night for the dance evening. Forty! There were performances from the BFS Cheerleaders, GCSE Dance students, BFS Pom Dancers, Bradon Forest Theatre Commedia Troupe and special guests Gyi Dance. The Cheerleaders opened the show with their 4th place routine from the recent UKCA National Schools’ Cheerleading Championships. This was then followed by a highly entertaining and amusing piece by the BFS Commedia Troupe whose entire performance was created by the students themselves. I especially enjoyed the silhouette of the surgery scene!

The GCSE Dance students were up next with a selection of solo compositions, closely followed by the Pom Dancers who took to the floor suitably dressed in Halloween style costumes to performed their routine to Thriller/Heads Will Roll from Glee. Next up were the GCSE Dance students who performed a group dance based on The Lion King’s: He Lives In You.

Finally, GYI Dance ended the show with an interesting and creative performance based around carnivals. GYI Dance are choreographed by Hannah Guy, a specialist dance teacher who you may remember from previous posts, having worked with many of our students. We like Hannah we do.

Miss Pratten, our PE teacher who has worked with the GCSE and cheerleading groups, said:

"The evening was a great success as each student performed brilliantly and did themselves proud. The level of talent that was seen was outstanding and next year’s show is shaping up to be just as exciting!"

For your entertainment...

It's that time of year again when we can confirm the line up for our Summer Arts Festival! Due to the fact that we are supporting the Big Arts Day at Lydiard Park on Saturday 9th July, the arts week is lower key than usual, but no less fun!

Tuesday 5th July
Are you a Sing Star? Fancy yourself as a Rock Band god? Then come and show your talents at the Bradon Forest Karaoke Night!

Raising money for the Red Cross Japan Appeal, the night promises to be full of laughter, musical cheese and the odd flat note. All are welcome so bring your friends, family and get your teacher along too!With a special guest to the get the ball rolling, this is a night not to miss!
* 7.30pm - 9pm, £2 entry

Wednesday 6th July
Featuring: The Bradon Forest Cheerleaders, a variety of dance from our GCSE group, the Bradon Forest Theatre Commedia Troupe... Plus a special guest performance from Gyi Dance!
* 7.30pm, £3 students, £4 adults

Thursday 7th July

Come and see your teachers perform with their Rock Bands! Featuring:
Miss Hedges with one of her many bands...
Mr Hutchings on drums with Lydia Twenty...
Mr Thomas on bass with Dark Horse...
With special support from our very own Lost Ravine!
* 7.30pm, £3

All tickets on sale now!

Review: Seven Deadly Sins & Flautino's Revenge

This week saw the final product of many, many, many weeks hard work by two different casts of the Key Stage 3 Drama Club. 

Claire Parsloe and Ashley Larkin directed 6 small sub-casts in The Seven Deadly Sins. The students came up with their own ideas based on their allocated sin and worked alongside staff to devise the interlocking performance. The climatic finale saw each previous sinner face their god in the showdown of wrath. The students all performed superbly, with intensity and emotion that surpassed their age and experience, especially those still in Year 7! Well done to all involved.

Our young commedia troupe - possibly the youngest in the country! - performed their energetic and vivacious devised piece, Flautino's Revenge. The group started the devising process with a workshop ran by lead practitioner Michael Chase, from Glasshouse Masks. This brand new lazze told the comedic tale of school management with an insight into school inspectors!

The commedia piece was a light hearted way to end an enjoyable evening of exciting new young theatre.

Opening this week...

The final rehearsals are going on as we speak and our next show in the theatre is looking pretty slick! The Key Stage 3 Drama Club have been busy devising their own version of the Seven Deadly Sins and the seven tales will all link together throughout the first performance.

Our young commedia troupe will finish the evening with a bit of light hearted entertainment in Flautino's Revenge. The cast previously worked with Michael Chase of Glasshouse Masks to start the piece off, but have been tirelessly directing themselves to get the play ready for public performance.

With two brand new pieces of theatre by our talented youngsters, it'll be worth making the effort this week!

Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th May
7.30pm
Tickets: £4 adults, £3 students

Mask Making Workshop

Aside from in-house performances, visiting theatre company productions, gigs, concerts, fashion shows etc, we also organise the odd workshop. This weekend saw the return of Mike Chase from The Mask Academy to run a 2 day workshop in Mask Making.

For those of you new to the Bradon Forest Theatre, you can click here to read about the Commedia Dell Arte workshop he ran last year, and here for the accompanying worksheets.

The workshop was offered to select members of staff from other local schools, but primarily to some of our Art & Drama students, who will be using their masks to create a piece of devised mask theatre for the Summer Arts Festival. As you can see from the masks they created, this should be a colourful performance!

Bradon Forest are also in preliminary discussions over our participation in the 2009 International Mask Festival, both as a host venue and contributing centre. More details to follow as soon as we have them!

Mike trained in mask in Bali and Italy. He has taught, acted in and directed physical theatre, mime and mask internationally for 25 years. He acted with, amongst others, The Unfortunati, Trestle Theatre Company and The Rose Theatre Company. He established The Mask Studio in the mid-90’s and developed masks for training, education, performance and therapy. He is currently the Artistic Director of the Glasshouse Art Centre and Glasshouse Mask Centre.