Chronicle 687

41 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

It was ambitious. Could the school stage a musical which had, deservedly, won the Olivier Award when it was first in the West End? Build a rotating stage? Perform hours of live music from Madness ? The answer was a resounding ‘Yes’. After watching the 2024 school production of Our House , I couldn’t be prouder to say I’m a Teddies pupil. I was shocked by the brilliance, the passion, the sheer grandeur of the performance. Led by Sam Munday-Webb, the Teddies Drama department wouldn’t settle for anything less than spectacular. Naturally, live music was on the menu. Conducted beautifully by Alex Tester, the School’s Deputy Head of Co-Curriculum, the band smashed each of the 16 Madness numbers. The ska music fit the play perfectly: it made the light-hearted scenes so much more fun, whilst being incredibly evocative during the grave moments. But the music wasn’t enough. Mr Munday-Webb needed more. So he installed an enormous spinning stage in the Olivier. And giant confetti cannons. When I asked him why, he simply replied, ‘For the drama’. He wasn’t kidding: the contraptions made the play so

Hope van Steenbergen

Leyna Traboulsi