Romance of the theatre

Juliet (Chloe Basnett) & Romeo (Andrew Weir)

STAR-CROSSED lovers took centre stage at Crompton House School as a cast of 23 pupils performed Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet”.

Years 10 to 13 took part in the production at Shaw’s Playhouse 2 Theatre.

Since 2005, the Crompton House School Shakespeare Society has produced “The Merchant of Venice”, “Much Ado about Nothing”, “Anthony & Cleopatra”, “King Lear”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Macbeth”.

Wardrobe
Directors Nic Hargreaves and Antoinette Sargent, both drama teachers, gave the play a 1980s feel using music from that era including the Dire Straits song of the same name.

The stage was simply set, with costumes from the 1980s collected by the cast, often from their parents’ wardrobe!

Auditions for the play were held last October and rehearsals have been taking place ever since.

All the pupils and staff gave up their February half-term to perfect their performances and the result, to three full houses, was described as excellent.

Chloe Basnett, who played Juliet, has performed in “Macbeth”, “The Crucible” and choreographed “Annie” at Crompton House.

She said: “I’m really sad it’s over. We all worked really hard on the lines so we could put all our efforts into the acting and relationships within the play. I am taking A-level theatre studies, so it was really good to try out our own ideas within the play.”

Andrew Weir (Romeo) has acted with Oldham Theatre Workshop, as well as performing at Oldham Coliseum.

Last summer he was in the Coliseum’s take on Romeo & Juliet — “Star Crossed” — in Alexandra Park.

He said: “Acting allows me to walk in someone else’s shoes, to understand the story from the character’s point of view.

“Romeo is my favourite Shakespearean character, one of the first rebels in literature — defying his family for love.”

He is also studying A-level theatre studies and has gained a place at the highly-prestigious Central School of Speech and Drama in London where there are 100 applications for every place.
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