AN47

10 April 2018 Abingdon Drama Fiddler on the Roof Tom Mills, as Mordcha, the Innkeeper, performing a virtuoso bottle balancing act whilst high-stepping his way through a Cossack dance routine. Abingdon’s best-known theatrical alumni emerged after the building of the 450- seat Amey Theatre in the 1980s. The theatre’s impact was immediate, allowing a generation of talented youngsters to tread the boards for the first time, including actors Tom Hollander and Toby Jones, theatre producer Julius Green, comedian David Mitchell and the members of the band Radiohead . The 1990s saw the introduction of drama as part of the school’s core curriculum. Among the first to benefit from GCSE and A Level drama courses - the latter also including girls from St Helen’s - was playwright Mike Bartlett, author of TV drama Dr Foster . Theatre director Simon Evans followed, alongside actors Max Hutchinson, Alex Mugnaioni, Huw Parmenter and Eddie Eyre; comedians Jonny Donahoe, Paddy Gervers and Fin Taylor and musicians Tom Richards, Joe Wilson and Walter Gervers ( Foals ). Today, a steady stream of drama students commits to futures in the creative industries. For example, actor Kit Young, who left Abingdon in 2013 and graduated from RADA last summer, is appearing in Nick Hytner’s production of Julius Caesar at the Bridge Theatre in London, while his contemporary Toby Marlow has two new musicals in the West End. Current pupils can study drama throughout the school, but they do not have to in order to take part in extra- curricular productions designed to provide opportunities for all age groups and build confidence and self-esteem. This year there are seven shows, including two specially commissioned plays, a Shakespeare, two junior productions, Year 9 and Year 10 plays and three senior productions with girls from St Helen’s. Although the aim is to provide a breadth of experiences during a pupil’s time at school, Abingdon has certainly acquired a reputation for staging exciting contemporary pieces such as Bartlett’s Earthquakes in London and Alecky Blythe’s verbatim musical London Road . The addition of a purpose-built drama studio in 2003 saw the formation of the Abingdon Film Unit. Now in its fifteenth year, the AFU allows pupils aged 13-18 to make their own films with guidance from a team of London-based film professionals. AFU members have now produced more than 150 films, many of which have won awards and screened at cinemas throughout the world, establishing the AFU’s reputation as a training ground for directors, cinematographers, editors and sound designers such as Sam Johnson, Will McDowell, Tom Wakeling and Alex Ingham Brooke (directors), Tom Swarbrick and Tom Bateman (broadcast journalists) and Matt Copson (artist). Jeremy Taylor Director of Drama and AFU Spotlight on OA Performance Success