One thing that students look forward to most every year, is the school productions. They wonder what the play will be, who will play the lead role? But, no one questions what goes on behind the scenes. Every year after the February half-term Croydon High hosts its annual whole school production. From ‘The Wizard of Oz’ to ‘Hairspray’, this year the Music and Drama department have chosen to do ‘Guys and Dolls’. This iconic play is about a couple of gamblers in the big city of Manhattan and the women who fall in love with them. When asking Emma Webb, the Head of the Drama Department, about why this particular play was chosen, she said that ‘You don’t need boys from a boys school to come and play the male parts. Guys and Dolls is an old school play, with one of my favourite songs, Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat. Also, there are loads of individual characters in this musical.’
Auditions started in September to allow rehearsals to start as quick as possible for the shows in February. With any production, having the entire cast attend all the necessary rehearsal dates is practically impossible; however, Mrs Webb tells us that, ‘You need to understand how long you need. Work out the show dates and work backwards from there.’
With any production, music plays a vital role. It’s almost as if without the bands playing the songs, the plays wouldn’t be as interesting. But with organising such a big production, involving nearly the whole school, there are bound to be some struggles. In fact, Mrs Webb said that one of the hardest things about directing a production was having, ‘everyone in the same place at the same time.’ It’s never easy having the backstage crew know what props they have to bring in or when the setting has to be changed or even to know how to cope when something goes wrong. But it all pays off during the night of the shows. 2 years ago, Croydon High’s production was Joseph and His Technicolour Dreamcoat. This was the first time the Croydon High has received a standing ovation for the amazing production that they had produced. It's amazing to have an appreciative audience and to see how the girls react on stage.
We look forward into the future to see what other amazing productions Croydon High can produce.
By Varjitha Kunalan
