Bring It On

Bitingly relevant, sprinkled with sass, and inspired by the hit film, Bring It On The Musical takes audiences on a high-flying journey that is filled with the complexities of friendship, jealousy, betrayal and forgiveness. Uniting some of the freshest and funniest creative minds on Broadway, Bring It On features an original story by Tony Award winner, Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q), music and lyrics by Tony Award-winning composer, Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights, Hamilton), music by Pulitzer- and Tony Award-winning composer, Tom Kitt (Next to Normal), lyrics by Broadway lyricist, Amanda Green (High Fidelity), and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical.

Campbell is cheer-royalty at Truman High School and her senior year should prove the most cheertastic — she's been named captain of the squad! But, an unexpected redistricting has forced her to spend her final year of high school at the neighbouring hard-knock Jackson High School. Despite having the deck stacked against her, Campbell befriends the dance crew girls and, along with their headstrong and hardworking leader, Danielle, manages to form a powerhouse squad for the ultimate competition — the National Championships.

This years Production comprises of even more students. Bring It On showcased the hard work of over 135 students both within Performing and Production Arts. With the continued success of We Will Rock You, Loserville, Limelight, A Christmas Carol, DNA and Much Ado About Nothing, we believe that this show was bigger, better and bolder!

We Are Now

A celebration of our KS4 Music Performance and Music Technology students and their self-produced event: A New Chapter - The 'We Are Now' Festival.

Performances took place throughout the evening, with mince pies and mulled wine are served by the front-of-house team in the Silverscreen Café.

A Christmas Carol

Our interpretation of 'A Christmas Carol' is set in modern-day, smoggy, austerity ridden London. Here, Scrooge, an unscrupulous business owner is hell-bent on profit at any human cost. His brutal capitalistic philosophy, that he puts before family, employees and indeed all of humanity, has left him a bitter and isolated figure, intimating all around him, especially his put upon office junior Bob. On returning home from work one evening Scrooge is confronted by the terrifying spirit of his former business partner Jacob Marley who intones that his immortal soul is in the gravest of perils and that three spirits will visit him in order that he learn a better way to live and potentially save himself from an eternity of hellish torture.

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A limited-run contemporary black box theatre re-envisioning of the classic Dickens novel 'A Christmas Carol'. The adaptation was penned by our Artist-In-Residence Andrew Mallen who previously led the vision of our sold-out black box shows 'Lord of the Flies' and 'Much Ado About Nothing'. The production had been overseen by the show-runners of our highly-successful musicals 'Schools Will Rock You', 'Loserville' and 'Limelight' (2017-2019).

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A Note From The Director:

I always think that truly great plays talks to the 'now', that is the undercurrent of the human condition and of the society that we interact with daily. The class polarisation of recent, biting, political austerity, the stagnating of social mobility, the irresponsibility and shortsightedness of our intuitions, provides substantial parallels between us and the Victorian world that Dickens inhabited. Here, in both worlds, the privileged few take the spoils, the choices and the opportunities, whilst the poor inch ever closer to destitution and potential tragedy.

A study published by the Global health foundation linked austerity to 120,000 extra deaths in the UK, primarily as a result of the reduction of nurses in the NHS, but also by the elderly freezing to death and the effects of poor diet. Our play examines the phenomena of late capitalism, the distance between people created by the priorities of greed and its erosion of notions of community and togetherness. Here, like Scrooge, we are offered the chance to think and feel anew and 'change' narratives that seem so desperately fixed in our shared experience.

OnExhibition

OnExhibition '19 is evening showcasing our visual, media and productions arts' student work. Exhibits will include elaborate sets, screenings of media and film and a variety of art, graphics and photography work from our Year 11 and 13 students. With music and nibbles, this is sure to be a great way to spend a summer's evening.

Limelight

ESA proudly presents 'Limelight: 2019'. A collection of musical theatre pieces, outstandingly performed by students in the Performance Arts Faculty.

This performance has around 100 students working on and off the stage.  All these students involved are currently working towards at least one or more BTEC qualifications during the show, and for many, a lot of criteria required to pass will be achieved right in front of you. This is something the Performance and Production departments pride ourselves on being able to offer the student body.

Much Ado About Nothing

In this Shakespearean farce, Hero and her groom-to-be, Claudio, team up with Claudio's commanding officer, Don Pedro, the week before their wedding to hatch a matchmaking scheme. Their targets are sharp-witted duo Benedick and Beatrice -- a tough task indeed, considering their corresponding distaste for love and each other. Meanwhile, meddling Don John plots to ruin the wedding.

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From director and artist-in-residence, Andrew Mallen, comes a contemporary take on Shakespeare's beloved romantic-comedy starring a sensational cast of EUTC students from all year groups. Featuring an incredible collection of props and scenery developed in-house by our production team, and crewed and rigged by Production Arts students.

DNA: A Blackbox Production

A group of teenagers do something bad, really bad, then panic and cover the whole thing up. But when they find that the cover-up unites them and brings harmony to their otherwise fractious lives, where’s the incentive to put things right? DNA is a poignant and, sometimes, hilarious tale with a very dark heart.

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Directed by Chelsea Thomas.

Loserville

Loserville is centred around 17-year-old Michael Dork, who is called a nerd, geek and slacker by others. Socially marginalised by the entire school and constantly picked on by Eddie, the coolest boy in school, Michael is desperate to find his ticket outta Loserville. But when stunning new girl Holly arrives, Michael is introduced to a whole new world of cool.

Over 100 students will be performed, produced, stage managed, crewed, tech’ed and hosted the event - all assessed for their Production Technology or Performing Arts qualifications.

Lord of the Flies

Following a traumatic plane crash, a group of school children find themselves stranded without adult supervision on a tropical island. As the children attempt to form a culture similar to the one they left behind, they quickly find themselves dividing into civilised and uncivilised factions.

Following the success of our first production 'Macbeth (An EUTC Blackbox Performance)', we expanded our ambitions to include bespoke set pieces, an original soundtrack, and direction from our artist-in-residence, Andrew Mallen. This was the flagship production of the 2018 EUTC Productions lineup.