OBERON, Titania, the lovers and the fairies finally had their time on stage when pupils at Lewes Old Grammar School staged a musical rock and roll version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream last week.
After two years of stage darkness thanks to the pandemic, the LOGS actors played to full houses every night when they performed Dream, Dream, Dream, a zany London-in-the-1950s version of the Shakespeare classic comedy.
While lover Lysander becomes teddy boy Johnny Tempest and Demetrius a delightfully square RAF pilot called Dennis, Hermia becomes Belle, who refuses to marry Dennis whom her father has chosen for her and is the embodiment of the wilful “teenager” – a newly-minted creation of the 1950s. The final lover, Shakespeare’s Helena, becomes Judy, played by Emily Roberts whose honeyed voice the audience fell in love with.
The fifties theme continued with the comedic “workers” (including a gas fitter, a Rediffusion TV repair man and a blue stockinged early feminist) led by Matilda Hannigan’s Bill (Bottom) Feeder and the group were in danger of stealing the show with their joyously silly am-dram preparations of their play within a play.
Year 7’s Raphael Phag-Udom was impressive as impish Puck, managing to remember an awful lot of complicated verse, and special mention also goes to the diminutive Lila Meiland, also only 11 (12?) who played the Hippolyta character, here named Polly and so very, very funny as a straight-talking East End girl, pricking any pomposity she encountered.
LOGS head of drama Ken Lawrence’s imaginative and original rendering of the play created lovely parts for many (the wonderfully camp tailor Steve Starveling gamely played by Freddie Russell and chatting actors’ slang Polari on every occasion comes to mind) and made the most of the melodious voices of Gracie Agnew, Georgia Packham and Liv Flower, ‘the Shangri-Logs’, who treated the audience to some fifties classics in between scenes.
LOGS Students Make Waves at ISA National Sailing Regatta On Thursday 2nd October, pupils from LOGS took to the water at Draycote Water in Warwickshire to compete in the ISA National Sailing Regatta, facing off against students from across the country. This is the first time we have entered this competition. Fourteen schools participated, divided into two fleets: the Main
LOGS pupils take part in Remembrance Day parades LOGS pupils took part in Remembrance Day parades this November as well as helping raise thousands of pounds in poppy donations. Rory Dawson (year 8), Rory Macleod (year 10), Oscar Macleod (year 8), all members of the Sussex Army Cadet Force no 5 Haywards Heath, and Alex Dawson (year 10), who is
Student Success at ISA Athletics On Friday 2nd May, 28 LOGS students travelled to Bromley to take part in the annual ISA athletics competition. Throughout the day, each and every student represented the school with pride and determination, delivering high quality performances across the board. Competing in extremely hot conditions, every student demonstrated incredible perseverance, resilience, and sportsmanship. What stood
