GCSE Drama Performance Reviews: Part One

In the first part of our GCSE Drama Performance Reviews, we'll be looking at four meticulously thought out pieces. From the Moors Murderer Ian Brady, to a hilarious fashion show, the boys' sense of scope cannot be faulted!

Family

By Patrick Kenny, Ben Brockway, Michael Scanlon

One brother, Patrick, is looking after a sick dad, played by Ben. His brother, Michael, comes in drunk after partying and drinking. The brothers argue, revealing their father’s illness and the loss of their mother. Father wakes up and interrupts their conversation. He gives the irresponsible brother money to get home and they all go to bed.

The next morning, Patrick’s character is first to wake, followed by Ben. They discuss the argument of the night before, highlighting Michael’s irresponsibility. Ben tells Patrick that he needs to support and encourage his brother. Patrick is resentful of his father’s attitude, as he feels he is the only one caring for his father.

Michael comes on and sits stage right, Patrick stage left, Ben Centre stage. He delivers a monologue about the struggles they’re experiencing. Patrick interrupts, Father freezes. He talks about missing normal family life, before his mother died and father became ill. He is interrupted by Michael, and freezes. Michael is in denial about his father’s illness and betrays his resentment towards his brother. He feels trapped by his family, but denies having a problem.

Ben coughs and wheezes, clearly he is unwell. Patrick returns to stage, he is caring and concerned for his father’s health, and insists upon taking him to hospital.

Ben and Patrick are in hospital; Patrick is trying to contact his brother, but unsuccessfully. The two discuss normal things, as if nothing is wrong. The brothers are texting each other while Michael is clubbing. The conversation is about how unwell their father is and how Michael needs to come and see him before it’s too late.

Suddenly, the news of the 9/11 terror attack breaks and Michael is inconsolable. The three characters stand, facing the audience while reciting William Ernest Henley’s Invictus, before they turn and face the screen until the lights come down.

The piece is intense, the clashes between the two brothers are extremely relatable and represent real relationships. The emotion is also very real, it gives the arguments a lot more depth and a gives a brilliant indication to the brothers’ relationship. The dad is also very reflective of a normal dad who knows he will not be around forever, so wants to ensure his sons have a good relationship. Ben, Michael and Patrick have done really well to capture these relationships so well, while each retaining their own characters and motives.

Homeless

By Rhys Ash; Jacob Kirby; William Parrish

William plays a young boy, he enters and speaks about his family life; he seems to have had a normal life, other than the coldness between his parents who have split up. All the while, Rhys and Jacob are lifting him up, spinning him round and moving him around the stage.

He sits on the floor, while talking about the torture of hearing his mother and stepfather having sex. He has made himself homeless; he has run away from home. Rhys and Jacob are two homeless men who start bothering him. Jacob’s character beats the young boy up while Rhys tries to stop him, unsuccessfully. William hobbles off, injured.

Rhys sits alone on the park bench, telling the story of how he served in Afghanistan but was dishonourably discharged. He describes being expendable; he is not important to the world. He does not like being homeless, but he has accepted it. Jacob joins him, they talk about their mistake in attacking William; Rhys fears they may have pushed him into danger.

Jacob recites his monologue, his survival guide to living on the street. He talks about how he burgled a house and killed a woman. William returns but Jacob warns him about the people he has associated himself with, while William puts his head in his hands and the stage fades to black.

Physical theatre is massively representative of what is happening to William’s life, at times he is lifted high above the trouble, while at other times he is spun round and flipped into the air. The physical theatre is a brilliant way of signifying the turmoil of those experiencing homelessness without needing to say the words. The boys did a fantastic job of telling a much wider story without needing to narrate their actions.

The Moors Murders

By Robert Hartrup; Edward Gilbert-Blay; Ashton Britten; Dom Deakin; William Kayll; Joseph Perry.

Edward sets the scene; it is 1999 and Ian Brady has been imprisoned for the murders of several children. He is a doctor who is trying to understand Brady’s motives.

The scene changes and Ashton, another doctor, is trying to understand Brady, brilliantly embodied by Joseph Berry. He explains that they were recreational and the public is obsessed.

Edward is narrating the inner monologue of the Doctor. Dom Deakin is Myra Hindley, he and Joseph read letters written between the two, they begin to repeat the phrase ‘his cries haunted the courtroom’, getting louder each time, and so do the doctors, until William Carr’s character breaks down, screaming.

The characters rearrange themselves, Brady and a doctor front stage. Ian continues to justify and defend himself, acting as though he didn’t do anything wrong, and did a public service. He continues to refer to his victims as maggots, inconsequential maggots.

William represents the children he killed. ‘Why me?’ he keeps saying. Dom Deakin takes centre stage as Myra, who talks about her infatuation with Ian. William comes on and lists the names of the victims, he describes the personalities of the pair; how Myra appeared and behaved kind, but Ian was evil. His naivety is sad, but describes how he was killed. 

Joseph captures the insanity of Ian Brady exceptionally well. He is sinisterly quiet one second, but the next he roars and his voice booms, brilliantly portraying his unpredictable nature. Physical theatre is used again to change the scenes from interviews to what look like group therapy sessions. William also does a fantastic job at presenting the naivety of Brady and Hindley’s victims and describes their characters in a way that a child would describe a person, referring to advice his mother had given him. A brilliant piece thoughtfully put together- the actors have clearly researched their characters!

Fashion Show

By Fenn Hewitt, Luca Camillo, Joshua Williams, Henry Finnegan

Fenn prances on stage, ‘lalalala-ing’ all the way. Uber camp, he is an exuberant character who is trying to control everyone. Henry sits at one side, eating carrots, while Luca explains, to everyone’s disbelief, that he used to model for Calvin Klein. Josh, in a fur hemmed coat and also exceptionally camp, calls him out for his lies. Henry’s character is so simple and defensive, but utterly hilarious, as are the other characters.

Fenn swans on stage and tries to control the situation but fails. Luca represents a character similar to Jay from The Inbetweeners; he lies all the time to make other people think he’s far more impressive than he is. Fenn is trying to organise the other characters for a fashion show which is minutes away from starting, while Henry is reciting every piece of advice his mother has given him and every thought process as and when it pops into head.

Fenn is reaching the end of his tether, but finally introduces the fashion show. Luca comes on in a leopard print robe with nothing but thermals on underneath. Fenn ushers him off stage and introduces Josh, who stumbles and falls onto the stage.  After being rather bashful, Josh leaves and Henry comes onto the catwalk, nervously. Fenn thanks the audience and leaves, panicked.

Backstage, the group are chatting and talking about fashion. They begin bickering after disagreeing on what Henry should wear to the disco later, but the show goes on. Fenn reintroduces the models, and announces that Henry has won, while Luca celebrates, thinking he has won, when in fact, he has lost. Luca breaks down crying, and the stage fades to black.

While technically there wasn’t too much complexity to this piece, the boys created hilarious characters, and most importantly, carried them through the entirety of the production. Luca seemed to be channelling Jay from The Inbetweeners while Henry portrays the most naïve, harmless and sweet individual you could think of. Fenn’s flamboyancy made for a-laugh-a-minute as he never dropped character and in every movement remained delightfully effeminate!