The School Play

The QE experience > Drama Performance > The School Play

The School Play traditionally staged at the end of the Spring Term is QE’s major annual drama production.

Groups of pupils and staff work together intensively to put on a theatrical spectacular performed to a high standard before a large audience of parents and friends of the School.

There is great diversity in the productions that have been staged in recent years. School Play audiences have been treated to works as contrasting as Treasure Island – a rollicking voyage through Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale of adventure on the high seas – to H G Wells’ science fiction stories, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The War of the Worlds, with their foreboding and dystopian view of the future. Productions have taken on contemporary societal issues, such as the boys’ powerful performance of The Jungle, an acclaimed play about the Calais migrant camp from the perspective of its residents.

The School Play typically offers roles for boys of all ages, enabling QE’s experienced actors from the senior years to help and inspire Lower School pupils. There are also plenty of opportunities for those who prefer to stay out of the footlights’ glare, from direction and work with sound and lighting, to playing in the musical ensembles that accompany the action on stage.

The Jungle

Performed during national Refugee Week, the play gave a voice to some of the thousands of men, women and children from many different countries who lived in the camp while trying to gain access to the UK. The boys seemed to revel in taking on such complex and contemporary issues, approaching the work with great maturity, respect and intensity.

12 Angry Men

"It's now your duty to try and separate the facts from the fancy." Staged 'in the round' with the audience drawn into the taut atmosphere around the deliberating table, this drama focuses on the personalities and prejudices of the jurors as much as on the details of the crime. Some great New York accents were achieved too.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

After two postponements due to the pandemic, the dog finally had its day in this powerful adaptation of Mark Haddon's best-selling novel. The story - moving, darkly comic, but ultimately inspiring too - deals with the challenges of navigating the world with autism, whilst tackling themes of family breakdown and the mystery of who killed Wellington the dog.

The Lord of the Flies

Boys from Years 7 to 12 came together to play the group of schoolchildren who regress to savagery in William Golding's classic tale of civilisation, human nature and barbarity. The Nobel Prize-winning author, who was also a teacher, served in the Navy during WWII and drew inspiration from the evil he witnessed.

The 39 Steps

QE’s actors combined adventure with comedy in their fast-moving re-telling of John Buchan’s much-loved tale of espionage and danger. The cast were ably supported by teams of technicians, musicians and student directors who together helped them navigate their way both through the many plot twists and a set which included a representation of the Forth Bridge!

Out of Time - A Wellsian Trilogy

150 years on from the birth of H G Wells, QE's actors played tribute to his prophetic vision by taking on three of the science fiction author's greats: 'The Time Machine', 'The Invisible Man', and 'The War of the Worlds'. To help them prepare, boys took to the roof of the main building to see QE's very own observatory.

Peter Pan

The tale of the boy who would not grow up is well known to many and J M Barrie's classic provided a rich source of material with which to hook the audience. The team experimented with green screen technology to create the flight to Neverland, whilst a 12 foot skeletal crocodile was constructed in collaboration between the Art and Technology departments.

Oliver Twist

With High Barnet's workhouse purportedly the inspiration for this Dickensian classic, QE's stage adaptation kept closely to original dark tale of poverty, crime and destitution - drawing on the influence of the 'penny dreadfuls'. The boys were given the challenge of bringing fresh life to such archetypal and well-known characters.

Treasure Island

Sea shanties in the corridors, a puppet parrot in the Art department and a bottle of rum behind the bar, heralded the arrival of QE's swashbuckling sea-faring adventure. The parrot was brought to life during the performance using the skills the boys had learnt at a War Horse puppetry workshop at the National Theatre.

And then there were none

There was an evening of 'murder, mystery and mayhem' as the boys presented a trilogy of plays on this theme, using some of the most famous characters and authors of the genre. 'And then there were none' (Agatha Christie) kicked off proceedings, followed by an appearance from Sherlock Holmes in 'The Boscombe Valley Mystery'. The evening was rounded of with a short play written by sixth-form student Golpikrishna Selvaseelan, entitled 'Mayhem for Hercule Poirot', in which the eponymous hero has to solve a baffling and surprising case.