Sixth Form Play Blue Remembered Hills
6 February 2017 -
This year’s Sixth Form Play was Blue Remembered Hills by Dennis Potter. It is about a group of seven-year-old children running around the British countryside during World War Two. It was directed by Miss Livesey, and it has been very exciting to be a part of the project.
The seven cast members signed up in May 2016 and chose the play that would be best suited to our group. The selection process was very exciting, and we unanimously agreed on Blue Remembered Hills.
This also took a lot of the pressure out of auditions, as we got to organically help Miss Livesey find the best fit for the cast based upon our own individual strengths and skills. Once we were settled in, we started playing around with our characters, trying to get a better understanding of what it was like to be a seven-year-old child living in the West Country during 1942 – something quite beyond our understanding! We even got to take part in a very exciting and tiring workshop with a representative from Gecko Company, which allowed us to fully understand the energy required to be a bubbly child who cannot stand still!
After we came back to school in September 2016, we began to stage the show, and it was very exciting to be able to see our ideas take shape and be utilised into making a project that was unique to us. Once Dr Bates put the amazing set in during the Christmas Holidays, we were all astonished by the intricate details, and this allowed us to raise our conviction and performances to another level. After many line learning sessions and cast dinners, our little group of seven became very close and this added another useful dimension to our performance on stage.
By the time February rolled around, we were all ready to perform in front of an audience. Being situated in the light box for the start of the show, I was a bundle of nerves as I heard the audience filing in. This nervous energy caused the whole cast to run around like children all the more convincingly!
It is hard to remember specific details from the performance due to the high levels of adrenaline, but the energy in Senior’s Hall when we were all getting out of our costumes after the show was almost as much fun as the performance itself. We were all yelling about our favourite moments, and how we could tell who had been in the audience based on specific laughs we recognised! After our final performance, the mood changed from such blatant exuberance to more subdued happiness due to the bittersweet aspect of the end of the show.
Being my thirteenth and final performance at Wycombe Abbey, I was feeling a very strange combination of joy and sadness, but Miss Livesey’s lovely speech at the reception cemented the evening as one of my fondest memories of the Wycombe Abbey Drama Department. Overall, I absolutely loved the experience, and I managed to become closer with my friends in the cast and make new friendships with those I hadn’t worked with before. I had an amazing time, and I’d highly recommend participation in a Sixth Form Play to all girls when their time rolls around.
Sarah, LVI
Drama Prefect