Exemplary Examination Performances

With the largest group of AS students ever at St Christopher’s School, there were four Unit 2 Performance Examinations this year. In February, our talented and committed Year 12s performed ‘The 39 Steps’ by Patrick Barlow, ‘Frozen’ by Bryony Lavery, ‘Matilda Liar’ by Debbie Isitt and ‘The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband’ by Debbie Isitt. The first evening began with ‘The 39 Steps’. Anish Vishwakoti, Cameron Icelli, Jamie Wilkinson and Ahmed Jheir entertained their audiences with this comedy adapted from the 1915 novel by John Buchan and the 1935 film by Alfred Hitchcock. The play’s concept calls for the entirety of the 1935 adventure film ‘The 39 Steps’ to be performed with a cast of only four. Afterwards, ‘Frozen’ by Bryony Lavery told the story of the disappearance of a 10-year-old girl, Rhona and this thought-provoking and sophisticated performance by Ghazi Al Ruffai, Natalie Myatt and Scarlet Robinson moved and challenged the audience. Year 10 students Fraser Kennedy and Ahmed Abdulla operated the lights and the sound for both of these performances.

The following evening we saw two further performances. The first was ‘Matilda Liar’ by Debbie Isitt following the story of Matilda, a compulsive liar who experiences a sudden change and finds herself compelled to tell the truth at all times and to everyone. Secrets were exposed, myths exploded and havoc ensued! This darkly humorous and visually compelling play was performed by Farah Khan, Zayna Naseem, Will Perois and Stephanie Manning with lights by Shauna Holland. The final performance was ‘The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband’ by Debbie Isitt focusing on Kenneth who is torn between Hilary, his wife of twenty years, and a younger woman Laura. Juggling the affections of two women, his world becomes a tangle of lies and deceit. This hilarious physical comedy was performed to much applause and laughter by Maysa Taher, Charlotte Vaandrager and Faisal Zainal. Lighting and sound were operated by Chantal Makar Saleh and Ingrid Bahnemann. Feedback on the four performances was unanimously positive – Mrs Leap and Mrs Beck were very proud of the students delivering such outstanding pieces of theatre.