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4
ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE
Cooper’s is the
brand new Sixth
Form Social Club
open daily for
lunch and on
Saturday evenings.
Punk Rock at the Edinburgh Fringe
By Sixth Former, Emily Smart
Taking a play to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
was challenging, amazing and inspirational;
there is no better place on earth for a
theatre-lover. Alongside performing
Punk
Rock
, we were able to experience a wide
range of theatre, comedy, drama and dance.
As Director of
Punk Rock
, I greatly
enjoyed watching the journey of the cast
and crew as they prepared for Gaudy Week,
our first performances at Teddies, and then
onwards to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Performing a polished piece of pupil-led
theatre at a world-famous theatre festival
was an incredible experience.
Each day we were presented with new
challenges, the most daunting of which
was how to sell the show. The Royal Mile
was awash with companies trying to
attract ‘punters’, so we clearly needed to
find a way to stand out. With everyone
around us showing off their ‘all-singing,
all-dancing’ ability, we decided to take the
opposite approach. To reflect the content
of our show and to convey a sense of
foreboding, we played dead
on the street, countering
the upbeat tempo of
many acts with a powerful
stillness. Though simple, our
approach was effective, and
we increased our audience
numbers significantly each day.
Mr Aldred was a highly
valued member of the
Punk
Rock
team and managed
to get us tickets for shows
throughout the week. A
comedy called
Good Bear
was a highlight for
me as the different comedy sketches were
fast, fun and very entertaining to watch, and
provided some light-hearted relief in contrast
to the hard-hitting nature of
Punk Rock
.
It was a great privilege for me to work
with a cast and crew who
had not only been amazing
to work with and wholly
professional throughout
the process, but had also
made my experience so
memorable. They are a very
talented group and I hope
that we will be able to pull
off the feat of taking another
play to the Fringe next year –
keep an eye out for us!
Emily was previously at Broomwood Hall.
Cooper’s
Emily Smart