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Abingdon news
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AFU 10th Anniversary
and Annual Screenings
The Film Unit’s tenth annual screenings
was an opportunity for past members of
the Unit, pupils and tutors, to get together
and pay tribute to the its founder Michael
Grigsby who died in March. Since the
Unit’s founding in 2003, it has produced
111 films, many of which have won awards.
One such film is Nirvana made last year by
Jack Bradley and Will Mylrea Hemmings,
which has just won first prize at the
Bedford Shorts Festival, a new festival with
a prestigious pedigree. n
Twelfth Night
A Shakespearian island with iPhones
and laptops may sound strange but this
was Illyria in the Lower School’s exciting
production of Twelfth Night last May. The
audience were delighted by this fast-
moving, physical, contemporary take on a
tale of love and mistaken identity. n
Dramatic Futures
There was great excitement in the drama
department when it was learnt that
Chris Young, who played Voltaire so
memorably in last December’s production
of Candide , had won a place at the Royal
Academy of Dramatic Art.
Meanwhile, TC Chu, who equally
memorably played the sheep, was invited
to take part in an induction course at the
National Youth Theatre over the summer.
Joe Westcott, Abingdon’s first drama
scholar, has won a place at the Guildhall
School of Acting, which, like RADA, is
one of the UK’s top training centres for
actors, and Ben Mallett has won a place
at the Year Out Drama Company in
Stratford-upon-Avon. All the above are
very significant achievements since many
apply but few are chosen! n