During the past few weeks, students have been busy rehearsing for the annual House Music and Drama (HMAD) competition, and today was showtime.

This year’s theme was shapes – so House Captains got creative about how to incorporate this thread throughout their performances.

Paget House Captains Grace and Lally went on an adventure around a magical Monopoly board visiting famous squares; enjoying street theatre in ancient Greece, dancing and a flash mob in Time Square and some spectacular choreographed fighting in Madison Square Gardens. With an amazing cast they had quite the adventure and produced an excellent performance.

Kensington’s production was centred around a school day with lessons in various subjects which can include something about triangles, e.g. Physics has a prism, History has the pyramids, and Maths has different types of triangles.

Within this structure they included the usual HMAD requirements of at least one of each of the following:
– choral item
– orchestral item
– devised piece
– scripted piece, from a full length published play
– poem
– dance piece
– Sixth Form comedy sketch.

For Ducat, Anika and Tara were on the hunt for the Abba Red Vinyl that has been stolen from the Very British Museum in London.

They began their journey by meeting Sherlock Holmes who provided them with a map of the London Underground, offering them advice and outfits to become detectives themselves.
Anika and Tara travelled all around London on the Underground, meeting many interesting and diverse people; watching plays and performances; and gaining clues on the way. Some of the areas they stopped and the people they met included:
Baker Street where they met Sherlock Holmes, The Globe Theatre to watch ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, Oxford Circus to watch a Gym and Dance circus performance, an Olympic training session, a visit to the Royal Observatory
Covent Garden, and the West End to see a number of shows, a Bollywood performance and explore the diversity of London.

Anika and Tara ended up at Waterloo where they retrieved the vinyl and were snapped up by MI6 for another investigation.

Carrington took a journey around the world collecting different coloured diamonds – each diamond represented a quality such as those on The Abbey Learner Profile. Along the way Tiffany and Cosmo learn to be better people and shine like a diamond.
All the performances were outstanding, and HMAD showcased the rich depth of creative talent within our student body. Many congratulations to all who performed – particularly those in Upper VI (Year 13) for whom it was their last HMAD.

And the winner? After much deliberation, the closely fought contest went to Paget. Congratulations to everyone involved.

STOP PRESS
At the end of HMAD, Ms Bilkey also revealed the 2022 Senior School Production will be ‘Hairspray’. The news was met with utter delight, and excitement, from the students across the School.