‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ Wows Audiences

The 2024 College Play – Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream was enthusiastically received by audiences last week. This play offered an extraordinary opportunity for our students to showcase their talents in a fully-staged performance, and we are proud of the many ways they contributed, whether in acting, backstage and technical work, makeup, promotion and front-of-house.

Congratulations to the students and staff from Years 7 to 12 for your unwavering dedication, hard work and creativity in bringing this play to life. We also extend our deepest gratitude to the families who have supported the additional commitments necessary to make this production a success. We were especially excited to welcome guests from our iGEN program to the matinee performance.

From the Director

A fantastic year for the arts finished on a high with this innovative performance of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Marian Theatre.

One of Shakespeare’s best-known plays, this timeless comedy brings to life a world of enchanted forests, mischievous fairies, and the tangled tales of love and magic. Mistaken identities, incorrect spells and hilarious misunderstandings unfold.

Over fifty students have worked hard for months in various capacities, including performing, backstage crew, band, hair and make-up and publicity. On stage are students in their third consecutive show with the College, giving them an opportunity to expand their experience and support the many students taking part for the first time.

While the audience thoroughly enjoyed the show, the cast and crew have developed lifelong memories, new and strengthened friendships and a sense of achievement, as well as a bit of magic in their hearts.

Mr Austin Deppeler

From the Musical Director

Our audiences were treated to the magic of the Bard, William Shakespeare!

Including music to accompany the visual, non-verbal language of gesture and emotion added another layer of meaning to our performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The early modern English has its own music, using timing and rhythmic syllable placement. Our students did an incredible job, not only in learning these lines, but also working on their musical delivery to help the audience follow the plot.

Mendelssohn famously wrote a ‘soundtrack’ to the play, and we brought together our own pastiche of music, old and new, to underpin the story of dreams and fantasy, with a bit of chaos and the absurd along the way.

The ‘Midsummer’ band brought together a community of current students, alumni and staff musicians in our mini orchestra pit. This intergenerational music-making adds valuable experiential learning to the College’s Music program.

Ms Deborah Ross

Student reflections from the rehearsal period:

“I am so happy to be part of this show because it’s been nothing but pure enjoyment and fun at every rehearsal. I get to learn lines, hang out with friends, make memories, and meet new people who share the same deep love and passion for acting.

It’s also incredible to me how kind and considerate everyone is, I can easily talk to them if I have a question. I swap and share ideas with the cast and directors, which I love doing because we all have amazing ideas to make this the best play yet.

Overall, this has been the best production I have ever been a part of because I feel so connected to this acting community.

And with the fantastic costumes, sets, and people, I don’t think any other play could beat this one.”

Victoria Tomkins (Titania, The Fairy Queen)

“I’ve been involved in productions since Spamalot in 2022. That was the first time I’d ever done theatre or drama in any way, and I just fell in love with it. The caring and compassionate community instantly made me feel so welcome and accepted, and I feel like I’ve made lifelong friendships because of it.

“To use a sport analogy; a cast is a team, and rehearsals are our training. Similar to sport, the core values of cooperation, respect, resilience and personal best are developed.”

Sadie Field (Helena)