Each year there are a number of productions at Ascham. Students from Years 7 to 12 have many opportunities—through the curriculum and by audition—to participate in productions both onstage and backstage. Professional directors and designers contribute to the creative team and are aptly supported by our teaching staff.
Winner of five Tony Awards, including Best Book and Best Original Score, The Drowsy Chaperone is a loving send-up of the Jazz Age musical, featuring one show-stopping song and dance number after another.
Our production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night aimed to remind our audience of the golden summers of family memory, the freewheeling spirit of a sun-filled beach holiday at the water’s edge, idyll and ice-cream, and then in an ultimate ‘miracle’, the restoration of family that may have lost each other.
Our story takes place long before Dorothy danced down a yellow brick road. The musical Wicked was adapted from Gregory Maguire’s novel with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. It is the untold story of Galinda, the Good Witch, and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.
The musical tells the story of Maria, who takes a job as governess to a large family while she decides whether to become a nun. A tuneful, heartwarming story, it is based on the real life story of the Von Trapp Family singers, one of the world’s best-known concert groups in the era immediately preceding World War II.
Directed by Mr Jon Suffolk, the Middle School Production Do We Ever See Grace? magically transformed the Packer Theatre stage into a circus ring with bright, bold colours and a ‘big top’ feel by the talented set and costume designer Ms Megan Venhoek.
The play tackled the big issues of social injustice which the girls were able to explore for the audience, using their acting, clowning and puppetry skills. With original music by Mr Richard Charlton and student Phoebe Steley, the audience was also delighted to see the Chamber Orchestra playing as part of the production.