‘Bassett’, ‘DNA’, ‘The Pub Quiz’ & ‘Old Times’ at the Bonington Theatre – Saturday 18th March

This was a great evening of excellent work by 4 of Flying High’s older theatre groups focusing on past and present National Theatre Connections plays with an additional piece from our adult group.

• Our Senior Drama group of 12 directed by Sophie, performed scenes from DNA by Dennis Kelly which was a mature play that is often studied for GCSE Drama and English Literature. The group handled the themes really well and there were some longer wordy speeches which were brilliantly communicated as was the silence of the protagonist as he buttered his waffle!
• Our Senior Youth Theatre with 15 members Sophie and Charlie, performed excerpts from ‘Bassett’ by James Graham with two casts – changing roles between scenes very successfully. This play is particularly difficult because there are many short lines and they are working in a group of 7/8 so have to learn a huge number of cues too but they were fantastic and worked so well as a team.
• Our adult group (Phoenix Theatre) created a piece through improvising short scenes and duologues set in a village pub before the weekly pub quiz. The group of seven created characters and relationships over a few weeks, exploring them in different scenarios to develop back stories. A structure was then created to give the conversations a logical order and the final piece was a result of rehearsed improvisation. It was praised by so many people who watched it and as a result of this, the group are confident enough to perform in the summer showcase in July. Maybe Peter the barking dog will make another appearance!
• Finally our Young Company performed their hour long National Theatre Connections play 2023 – ‘Old Times by Molly Taylor and did a wonderful job. As a group, they have been an absolute pleasure to work with – full attendance almost every week, focused when they need to be and having so much fun together at other times. The script was demanding with 7/8 characters all speaking and overlapping in the same scene and the transitions from present to past were really difficult to manage but the group were fantastic even when last minute changes and instructions were given, they just got on with the job that needed doing! The Director from the National Theatre was full of praise for the whole group, their excitement and enjoyment as well as their performances. We were so proud of them. Carrie and Sophie directed the play with Jack Quarton creating the sound design and Peter Hodgkinson as lighting designer. A real team effort. We are now very excited to perform the play at Nottingham Playhouse on Saturday 15^th.