NEWS

House Music and Drama performances span the decades

24 October 2019

It’s that time of year again, when the four Abbey Houses go head to head to win the title of House Music and Drama Champions.

Kensington, Paget, Ducat and Carrington have been working tirelessly for the past month to produce four separate productions, all tying in to this year’s theme of Time Travel. They combined music, drama, gymnastics and dance to pull off the most hotly anticipated event of the House calendar.

Paget kicked off the day’s events with a TV time machine taking them back to the roaring 20s. Skits about Fat Sam with his gang and Downton Abbey went down a treat, whilst the Peaky Blinders brought some excitement to the stage. Laugh-out-loud funny, Paget really started the order of events with a hard performance to beat.

Kensington were the second house to take to the stage, in an attempt to remain Champions for another year. Set around World War II, this performance included wonderful displays of tap dance and ballet, as well as a rendition of ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’ from the 1940’s Disney Classic Pinocchio. Ending on a military-style sing along of ‘Salute’ by Little Mix, the students pulled off a great attempt to hold their HMAD Champions title.

Ducat styled out the swinging 60s, with a production that included an instrumental Beatles medley, classic-musicals sing-off, and a stunning solo performance of Moon River by Andy Williams. Helped by Samantha the Good Witch, the audience was ‘bewitched’ by Ducat’s entertaining show. They paused the festivities of the day to make a moving political message about reducing gun violence in relation to the JFK assassination, before finishing off with a lively song and dance number.

Carrington were last but certainly not least, telling us of their travels in the 1980s game Pacman. After getting sucked into the game, they had to work through the five levels to complete the game. Initially acknowledging some prominent social issues from the decade, the girls moved on to the neon-eighties we all know and love, performing hits including ‘I’m Still Standing’, ‘Under Pressure’ and ‘Footloose’. The group number, ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ by Cyndi Lauper was a great way to sum the essence of House Music and Drama.

The judges (Mrs Dent, Mr Martin, Ms Bilky and Mrs Burn) had a tough job on their hands to decide who should take the top spot, but eventually a decision was reached: huge congratulations go to Ducat for being crowned the winners this year, and to Kensington who were awarded Best Programme Design.

The House Captains of course deserve a special mention, but every single performer and all those behind the scenes should be extremely proud of their achievements today; the productions were a testament to all of the effort and enthusiasm you have put in over the past few weeks!

But will Ducat hold their crown? We’ll find out next year…

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