St Joseph’s College Reading’s Senior Production February 2023, was Kwame Kwei-Armah’s ambitious musical retake of Twelfth Night.
Set in New Orleans, the musical performance was a combination of some of the original text interspersed with cleverly written musical numbers that helped to explain the dialogue to those less versed.
“If music be the food of love, play on.”
As we have come to expect, there was a very high level of interest from pupils who wanted to take part and two casts were used across four nights who performed each night to a full house.
The beautifully vibrant and colourful stage set envisioned, designed and produced by the Drama department and a team of helpers, transported the audience to New Orleans during Mardi Gras.
Against this backdrop, St Joseph’s drama department ensured that both casts pulled off a sunny and entertaining production leaving the audience with a lasting memory of an evening full of brilliant singing and great comedic timing alongside some slick acting performances.
For those who were lucky enough to attend both performances it meant they really did get to see two different plays as the actors and actresses with a range of abilities brought their own personal interpretation of the characters to the stage.
The Art department ran their now annual competition with Year 8 graphic design students to design the programme cover. This time, the selected winner was Henry Wilson.
We must not forget the production and creative team who worked tirelessly to bring the magical stage to life. Thanks to the army of helpers who developed, designed, built and created the set and costumes; to the technical team and the back stage crew, the musicians and of course, last but by no means least, the directing team!
