Recently on the 19th March, girls from Wycombe High School went on a school trip to Royal Holloway, university of London. Several girls from Royal Holloway had been assisting us in tackling the subject ‘Theatre in Education’ in our late entry GCSE class. Whilst they gave us helpful tips and techniques to use when creating our scenes, they were also devising their end of degree piece. Our class received the privilege of going to Royal Holloway and seeing ‘Instil Theatre’s’ finished piece entitled ‘In the face of it’. We were exceptionally excited to finally see their piece, as we knew how much effort and time had gone into creating every scene for it. The students from Royal Holloway had given us teasers into what the genre and topic were going to be; it was to be set during the war, and rather than focusing on the men, the piece focused solely on the roles of women in the army.

 

 

It was clear that Royal Holloway is one of the largest colleges in the University of London, as the college was reminiscent of a magical Hogwarts castle. The stage for the production was very unexpected, as there were no seats and mysterious cardboard boxes stacked around the seating area. Before entering, we were each given a band to tie around our arm which would later relate to the storyline of their piece.

 

The overall piece was so cleverly thought out that you almost felt it was a shame it was not broadcasted on television. The Royal Holloway girls remained professionally emotive and in character throughout the whole piece, leaving a few audience members teary eyed by the end. The piece focused on roughly five female members of the army, although it was not clear which war was occurring or the time period of the piece. We then heard the thoughts and feelings of each character as they had to conceal and overcome their problems.

 

The finale was very effective as the characters interacted with the audience by a loud civil defence siren playing and by urgently ushering us out of the room to make us feel as if we were involved also.

 


Overall, I think the Royal Holloway girls will get a thoroughly good result as I really thought the piece was outstanding. It was clear that it was well-rehearsed, thought-provoking and an ingenious idea.