GCSE Drama Visit to Edinburgh

Both Year 11 GCSE Drama classes recently embarked on a coach to go to Edinburgh for the day. The day trip was to mark the culmination of an important internally assessed module in the course, on Gothic Horror - and to that end the students experienced the Edinburgh Dungeons and the Ghost Walk. They were delighted to experience a few screams and screeches in the various dimly-lit catacombs of the dungeons and felt chills of a different nature, as they trod the paths of those long dead (but still present?) in the deserted living quarters beneath the streets of the busy capital city.  

In the evening they watched Lord Webber’s Whistle Down the Wind, to allow another important part of the GSCE course to be completed: the Live Theatre Review. The choice of the show was judicious: it has elements (like the burning barn) and performances (the lead role Swallow) that were impressive as well as areas that left them wanting (the plot…and, at times, the less than convincing Southern American accents) - however, this would enable any student to include both negative and positive commentary in their coursework. 

It was a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding day and it was a tired group that settled down for a snooze in the bus on the return journey, knowing that they would not be back in school before the early hours of the morning.