OneTouch Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness, 3 April 2009

Two's Company

IF THE sixteen performers from Eden Court’s Higher Drama group were nervous during their performance in then it didn’t show, and although they’d spent a rigorous day being examined on the practical element of their Higher Drama, their enthusiasm was still evident and contagious.

Eden Court Theatre has been running a Higher Drama course as part of its educational programme for the past seven years, and over this time has had much success bringing the arts to young people across the Highlands. The course is made up of a theory and practical exam, and the students were given a chance to show off their achievements in this public performance.

The various pieces were essentially a series of duets with a diverse range of themes. They whisked us from Greece to Glasgow, and provided a refreshing and enjoyable evening’s entertainment.

We began in Ancient Greece with scenes from Sophocles’ Antigone. All of the students took part, with different interpretations from each pair; some chose to present the scenes in keeping with their historical setting, others added a modern slant. The different takes not only added a bit of extra spice but also demonstrated their tremendous adaptability and range.

The rest of the evening’s performance took excerpts from a number of Scottish plays, such as Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which had several amusing scenes and accents to accompany, David Greig’s Outlying Islands, Liz Lochhead’s modern Perfect Days, Gorgeous Avatar by Jules Horne, and finally Ann Marie Di Mambro’s Tally’s Blood. Perfect Days was particularly successful with its close resemblance to everyday life; humorous, moving and well portrayed by both students.

The show was an overall success with all its components of a high standard, and there had clearly been a lot of effort and work put in to achieve this quality. With the students coming from across the Highlands, from as far as Portree and Mallaig, to practise their coursework every Saturday, there is a great deal of commitment involved in the production.

All credit to the students themselves, and also the course director, Angela Morris. The course is intended to accompany work done in school and is directed mainly at 6th year students, with some 5th years taking part as well.

Since there are few schools in the Highlands which offer drama as part of their curriculum (Culloden Academy being a notable exception), there is always a lot of interest in both the Higher and new Intermediate Two courses, but organisers have found that smaller numbers in the Higher course are more successful, especially if some students have already completed the Intermediate Two grade.

Two’s Company demonstrated that new acting talent abounds in the Highlands, and it is clear that there will be a continued interest in Eden Court’s drama courses for years to come. And who knows – perhaps we’ll see some of the students on the screen soon, since coincidently Bollywood started filming at Eden Court last Friday evening too… .

© Jo Gratton, 2009

Links

• Eden Court Theatre