Abingdon News No. 52

20 January 2020 Abingdon Drama A group of sixth formers from Abingdon and St Helen’s together with a lower school pupil, Rupert Mathieson, performed at the Fringe in a new play called Contact Light , written by former St Helen’s students. The performances were very well-supported and enthusiastically received, with audiences including representatives from the film and TV companies Working Title and Comedy Central. The Pianodrome venue also hosted the annual Loose Limbed Collective arts networking evening, and attracted approximately 50 OAs and former St Helen’s students from the worlds of theatre, film, comedy and TV. Contact Light at the Edinburgh Fringe Every Brilliant Thing The third and fourth year boys presented this one-hour piece which tells the story of a 7-year old boy who makes a list of all the brilliant things in life he can think of after his mother has tried to kill herself. The play featured 15 of our promising middle school actors who thoroughly impressed the very appreciative audience. Unique to the production was the world’s first “palletdrome” - a bespoke hundred seat amphitheatre, brilliantly fashioned out of discarded pallets by our Amey Theatre Technical Team. Our thanks go to Jonny Donahoe who we welcomed back to school earlier this term to coach the middle school thespians on how to tackle a play he helped to create. A still from the Great Emu War The AFU’s 16th annual screening celebrated the creativity and commitment of Abingdon’s filmmakers with nine films providing a snapshot of issues that have preoccupied AFU filmmakers in 2019. This year we also welcomed representatives of the Abingdon Film Academy – a group of students from Larkmead and Fitzharrys Schools who work with AFU tutors and members. The Spirit of Grigsby trophy was awarded to Kit Matthews (left) for his film, Children of the Revolution The Michael Grigsby Young Filmmaker of the Year Award went to Tristan Mann Powter (right) for A Bitter End , the third of his trio of films about subjects in the town of Abingdon. All nine of the 2019 AFU films are available to view online at the AFU’s dedicated Vimeo site. The AFU’s annual screening by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe (OA)