Drama Trip – October 2021
Our sixth form drama students took a trip to London last week and enjoyed two shows; Rockets and Blue Lights at The National Theatre and Come From Away at the Phoenix Theatre. Olly, Year 12 reports on the day’s events.
The sixth form drama students left school first thing last Wednesday, London-bound to watch not one, but two shows. Arriving around 11am, we had a couple of hours free time during which we were able to have lunch on the sunny Southbank! At 1.00pm we went into The National Theatre to watch Rockets and Blue Lights, an emotional thriller which moves between the past and present in London. In the present, young actress Lou is haunted by her ancestors’ unresolved history, while in 1840, Londoners Lucy and Thomas come to terms with freedom. This show was thought provoking and engaging, it also had one of the best endings in a piece of theatre that I’ve ever seen live. In the final moments the stage became flooded with water, right up to the audience’s feet, as the lights above reflected off the water creating a beautiful and powerful ending.
After grabbing some dinner in Covent Garden, we walked over the bridge to The Phoenix Theatre to watch Come From Away. This Broadway musical is based on the events in the week following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in America, when 38 planes were ordered to land in the small Canadian town of Gander. This true story tells the tale of the town who kept 7,000 stranded visitors housed and fed within their community, following the biggest tragedy the US had seen. This feel-good musical was the perfect way to end the day out in London, it focused on the way in which 9/11 affected so many different people in so many different ways. From scared parents, business men and women unable to return home, to an Egyptian man battling against the post 9/11 prejudice. However, it was also able to show the ways in which people came together, work together and make life-long friends.
It was amazing to be able to see live theatre again as due to Covid we have only been able to watch things digitally up until now. A great day was had by all – what an experience!
