Starcrossed: Middle School dance and drama production

Romeo and Juliet from a fresh perspective

The evenings of 3/4 February saw two joyful performances of the Middle School production Starcrossed, a highly successful re-working of Shakespeare’s classic story. A chilly Devon was warmed and delighted by the energy, skill and teamwork of all involved in this great show, mainly 18 actors and 29 dancers from Years 7-10, as we traced the story of Romeo and Juliet through dramatic interludes directed thoughtfully and with artistic discipline by Mrs Emily Dunlop. The cast spoke with confidence and understanding, with noteworthy performances from Sarah Hardie, Charlie Holmes, Roddy Kohn, Will Pearce, James Seigne and Liv Young.

The actors’ well-chosen punctuating extracts from the text were beautifully, graphically and often movingly illustrated by ten dance scenes expertly choreographed by Miss Tessa Lothingland. We marvelled at the dexterity of the dancers, many of whom appeared in the majority of the numbers. There were frequent changes of pace, with a series of dancers depicting the main protagonists, from Dire Straits’ relaxed Romeo and Juliet to the forbidding I Predict a Riot, featuring various hoodies including a menacing Alasdair Stroud. Katie Clarke and Emma Willson led an upbeat, combat-clad number called Where is the love? and there were moments of great lyrical beauty too, as illustrated by Tilly Warren in her solo dance, Imogen Gibb and Amanda Herring in their portrayal of the death scene, and Charlie Green and Hannah Francis in their duet. The whole troupe impressed us with their cohesion and concentration in various dances that were demanding and complex to perform.

Tessa Lothingland’s ingenuity and the wizardry of Mr Andrzej Chrupek’s technical team brought depth and atmosphere to the staging of the piece. Mrs Michelle Giles and her team provided excellent costumes once again, and the whole production was coordinated by Head of Drama Mrs Stephanie Chrupek.