Last week Prem held  ‘An Evening of High Fantasy’. This musical celebration is the culmination of a project that started life as an idea mooted by me to Ajarn Chris after our Head of School asked us to ‘consider a musical’. Such an undertaking doesn’t come lightly, a musical has so many strands that must be pulled together. It was an ambitious choice to select a Stephen Sondheim piece because musically, the work is so complex and thrilling and requires a level of nuance from both the cast and the musicians. The material on which our performance is largely based upon ‘Grimm’s Tales’ looks closely at family and community and also what happens when disaster strikes and there doesn’t appear to be a ‘happily ever after’. Sometimes, you do, indeed, get lost in the woods and I feel that this metaphor is a perfect one for the last two years of Covid.  The Pandemic, of course, impacted the production and often we were reduced in number due to quarantine and bouts of online schooling. The cast, however, persevered through thick and thin in the truest sense of that old theatre maxim ‘The show must go on!’ I am extremely proud of our talented cast and crew who have given so much of their time and energy – often having to re-orientate and react with little notice to a worryingly fluid situation. 

We made it. In this exceptional year, I hope you are amazed to see the fruits of the labours of some exceptional students!

Ian Johnston

Director of Drama