News & Headteacher Blogs

Our whole school production of Les Miserables took place last Thursday, Friday and Saturday with over 100 students and teachers involved in bringing this incredibly complex show together. And what a show! The acting, singing and dancing talent was incredible. The actors performed beautifully, projecting their voices to the back of the hall over the three sold out performances and captivating the audience with the emotional tale of prisoner on parole Jean Valjean and his journey beyond the barricades, at the centre of the June rebellion. There was moments of hilarity followed by incredibly poignant emotional moments. The show ended with the full cast of over 60 students singing together and bringing the house down.

 

Behind the scenes, the make-up artists, lighting and sound team, stage crew and set designers did an incredible job to bring the performance to life. The orchestral accompaniment was amazing, showing off the incredible musical talent at The Downs School and conducted by our Year 11 Head Girl Alice. The final performance on Saturday ended with the audience demanding an encore.

 

Director Miss Duthie said: “The show has been a huge challenge this year but every single student involved rose to the occasion and created a performance that I am extremely proud of. The production was the result of months of hard work in rehearsals and the students approached it all with such professionalism and dedication- it has been a joy to work with them all. Regardless of having watched the piece countless times in rehearsal, I was still overwhelmed every evening by the power of the big ensemble numbers, moved to tears by the emotion and to also laugh so much at the comic relief of the Thenardier’s. To me the show this year was all about people coming together for a cause and this I felt was reflected in the community spirit of all the students involved- from years 7-13 the group were so supportive of one another- it has been an experience that none of us will forget. Thank you to everyone for all of their support."