The Chronicle Autumn Term 2017

4 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Punk Rock at the Edinburgh Fringe By Sixth Former, Emily Smart

Taking a play to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was challenging, amazing and inspirational; there is no better place on earth for a theatre-lover. Alongside performing Punk Rock , we were able to experience a wide range of theatre, comedy, drama and dance. As Director of Punk Rock , I greatly enjoyed watching the journey of the cast and crew as they prepared for Gaudy Week, our first performances at Teddies, and then onwards to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Performing a polished piece of pupil-led theatre at a world-famous theatre festival was an incredible experience. Each day we were presented with new challenges, the most daunting of which was how to sell the show. The Royal Mile was awash with companies trying to attract ‘punters’, so we clearly needed to

find a way to stand out. With everyone around us showing off their ‘all-singing, all-dancing’ ability, we decided to take the opposite approach. To reflect the content of our show and to convey a sense of foreboding, we played dead on the street, countering the upbeat tempo of

me as the different comedy sketches were fast, fun and very entertaining to watch, and provided some light-hearted relief in contrast to the hard-hitting nature of Punk Rock . It was a great privilege for me to work

with a cast and crew who had not only been amazing to work with and wholly professional throughout the process, but had also made my experience so memorable. They are a very talented group and I hope that we will be able to pull off the feat of taking another play to the Fringe next year – keep an eye out for us!

many acts with a powerful stillness. Though simple, our approach was effective, and we increased our audience numbers significantly each day. Mr Aldred was a highly valued member of the Punk

Rock team and managed to get us tickets for shows throughout the week. A comedy called Good Bear was a highlight for Emily Smart

Emily was previously at Broomwood Hall.

Cooper’s

Cooper’s is the brand new Sixth Form Social Club open daily for lunch and on Saturday evenings.