We were delighted to welcome Karen Whyte as this year’s judge of the House Drama competition. Karen has recently returned from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe where she performed in the one woman show 'Fan Girl', gaining a four star review. Karen praised the dedication, hard work and huge creativity demonstrated by each of the Houses in devising such great performances at short notice using a stimulus they had been given only a short time before.

The stimuli this year all revolved around political and social statements. Plays included Bexit (McGill’s), Wonderful Women (Leeman’s), When you Say Nothing at all (Kennedy’s), Brotherhood (Beevor’s), Truth (Paull’s) and Oblivion (Riding’s). Following some imaginative productions, the award for Best Director went to Jolie Sharpe for the Paull’s performance which demonstrated fabulous use of props and strong transitions. Emma Gillespie in the Riding’s production gained Best Performer for the fire and rage she gave to the strength of her performance. Congratulations also to McGill’s House for the Best Play Brexit. The balance of humour and the sinister touches in this play made for a good ensemble which showed attention to detail with every performer selling the story.