St Wilfrid’s Drama GSCE Students Enjoy

Drama Performance of RIGGED

 

 

St Wilfrid’s drama students were visited by the Theatre Centre who performed their latest drama Rigged in our School Hall.

 

Rigged is a play about the battle between choices, expectations and breaking free.

The drama is centred on a white boy, Nathan who has been excluded from school.  Banned from the town centre, Nathan spends his days in arcades and picking fights in the street, while his girlfriend wants to continue her studies and dreams of independence. Are they heading in the same direction? Can the two of them escape their background of dysfunctional families, or is the 'system' stacked against them?

 

This hard hitting play by Ashmeed Sohoye demonstrated the realities of teenage pregnancy, truancy and inner city life.  It is aimed at teenagers aged 14 and over, certainly tackles some gritty social issues.  It is based on Ashmeed’s current work in a north London school as a Learning Mentor, where he has seen at first hand young pupils trying to find their identity, looking at their choices and their attempts to establish themselves

 

 

After the amazing performance, the actors, writer and director were available to discuss the play and it’s the issues it exposes.

 

Suzy McDonald, Head of Drama commented, “It’s rare to see a Theatre in Education piece of such an excellent standard. I was very impressed with the production ‘Rigged’, it was well written, cleverly directed and superbly performed. Our students were engrossed from the start. Talking with the actors and company manager after the show, our students really gained an insight into the process of putting together a production and working in the theatre industry. The project has also helped our students to improve their critical skills by writing theatre reviews which will count towards their GCSE coursework.”

 

 

Drama Student Megan Barton commented, “Quite often plays round things off with a happy ending and it was refreshing to see a drama that ended with loose strings and unanswered questions like it would in real life. I would recommend ‘Rigged’ because I think it can be seen by a wide audience and makes people remember that sometimes there are people worse off than them, and as Kathy said in the play ‘We should be grateful for what we have’.”