AN47

www.abingdon.org.uk 11 AFU Tutors win BAFTA Congratulations to AFU tutors Colin O’Toole and Jonas Mortensen who won the BAFTA for best short film - the most coveted award in British film. Pictured: AFU tutors Colin O’Toole (left) and Jonas Mortensen (right) at the Albert Hall with Sam Spruell, (centre), star of their BAFTA-winning film “Cowboy Dave” A Matter of Life and Death based on Powell and Pressburger’s 1946 film. This feast for the senses combined whimsical humour with thoughtful reflections on the nature of life and death. The audiences were treated to a wonderful production from the talented 22-strong cast of Abingdon and St Helen’s students. It may look like a police line-up, but in fact it’s a set of mugshots that were taken as part of the new GCSE Drama performance exam that took place in the Drama Studio this term. Under the new rules, students need to perform two extracts from the same play. We were treated to works by a host of brilliant playwrights including Bartlett, Bean, Godber, Miller, Pinter, Reza, Soans, Sondheim, Wade and many more. Best of luck for results in August. Before Sunrise a 1995 Richard Linklater film. Adapted for the stage and directed with great skill by OA Ash Verjee, this was a thoroughly charming production staged at the St Helen’s Studio Theatre. Upper sixth student Bede Lunn played Jesse with a delightful English reserve that was the perfect foil for Alek Auton’s playful Celine.