Abingdon News No.40

8 / 20

The Sheldonian Theatre was a superb venue for a wonderful array of music – choral,
wind and jazz band, Gospel Choir and First and Second Orchestras. The audience
heard a number of specialist musicians from the music team, each of them exploring
and presenting the rich musical talent that we have at Abingdon School.
8 January 2016
Abingdon Music and Drama
Ian Sexon, brother of Chemistry Science
Technician, Terry, put some third year drama
students through their paces as part of
this term’s focus on developing voice skills.
Ian could not be better qualified, working
as a commercial voice-over artist; The
car in front’s a Toyota is one of his best-
know pieces and also in theatre, recently
performing at the King’s Head in London in a
one-man show called A Life with the Beatles.
Music
Thursday 14 January
Woodwind Masterclass admission free
Thursday 21 January
New Year Concert tickets needed
Wednesday 10 February
Chilingirian String Quartet tickets needed
Wednesday 24 February
Annual Chamber Music Evening
admission free
Wednesday 9 March
Singers’ Platform admission free
Tuesday 17 March
Choral Concert admission free
Drama
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
3-5 February
Joint Senior Production of Anything Goes
tickets needed
Yolande Patterson Hall, St Helen’s
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
4-6 February
Joint Senior Production of
Caucasian Chalk Circle tickets needed
Amey Theatre
Monday 14 March
AS Theatre Studies Plays 1, 2 and 3
admission free
Amey Theatre / Drama Studio
Tuesday 15 March
AS Theatre Studies Plays 4, 5 and 6
Drama Studio, St Helen’s admission free
Tickets and event details online at
Dates for your Diary
Lower School
Production
Lower school boys took part in a comedy
sketch show called Calamities, which
saw them present the work of some of
Britain’s best loved comedians, as well
as many sketches written by OA Edward
Rowett, whose BBC Radio 4 sitcom has
recently been nominated for an audio
drama award. The boys did fantastically
well and gave us a spectacular evening of
misunderstandings, mishaps and mayhem!
A talented cast of ten third year boys created a stir at the end of November with their
performances of Brainstorm, a new play about the development of the teenage brain. Set
amidst the detritus of a teenager’s bedroom, the play journeyed into the adolescent brain
to reveal what’s behind ‘typical’ teenage behaviour such as mood swings, risk-taking and
heightened social awareness. The young actors took us on an emotional roller coaster
of a show, by turns hilarious and moving, and at the end, there were more than a few
teary eyes in the audience after a silent sequence in which the actors held up handwritten
placards showing “all the stuff I really can’t say out loud”.
Middle School
Production
Voice Skills
We went through all the emotions...
I confess to shedding real tears at the end. “ ”
What a great hour of
theatre! Your talented
cast were wonderful.
(audience responses)
“
”
Christmas
Concert