Concordia 2025

to running sound for the staff band, the Manic Street Teachers, who used to rehearse in the Studio Theatre on a Friday night after school. I can remember Mr Brown was their lead singer, and I think Justin Neville-Rolfe was on bass guitar. I also enjoyed being asked to play Bhangra from a cassette, very loudly, at an Asian Cultural Society performance, with Jon Gabitass sitting in the front row, right in were much simpler affairs, often with a relatively basic or minimalist set, as Ben Trisk explains. ‘There was a fixed grid of metal poles across the ceiling from which to hang the lighting. I remember Matt Forrest (1989–1994), in the year above, often swinging across them like monkey bars. While I was in the Sixth Form there was a junior production of Macbeth . We had to make lots of blood bags for the actors to wear under their shirts, which they would burst during death scenes, and there was also an explosive cap that was triggered during the performance by throwing a switch. If my memory serves me correctly, one afternoon Chris Cox (1990–1995) went to load the cap for that evening's performance. However, the switch had unknowingly been left on from the previous show and the cap blew up as he installed it, burning his hand and requiring a trip to Mount Vernon. I believe front of a large stack of speakers!’ Productions in the Studio Theatre

frame and failed to break the window; I had missed from virtually point-blank range! With Will waiting for the window to break, an important cue for his next line — ‘Just children, mischievous children’ — I improvised by sticking my fist through the window, to Will’s relief and much amusement from friends’. Simon Hampel (1981–1986) remembers: ‘ Cabaret had floats on wheels that we had to move on and off the stage; frankly, the sides of the Great Hall weren't made for easy moving’. In the late 1980s Julian advised on the conversion and equipping of the old Gym to become the more intimate and flexible Studio Theatre, incorporating neighbouring storerooms to create the foyer and workshop. ‘It came as something of a shock to the Bursar at the time when I requested that all the windows should be boarded up and the whole room painted matt black. We could then work on the lighting in the Studio Theatre during the day and not wait for it to get dark, as we did in the Great Hall.’ This extra capacity has allowed the school to stage such smaller productions as last year’s Enron and the Phab Revue. Tim Harrison (1997–2002) was a sound operator for several MTS school plays, musicals and Phab Revues. ‘Some highlights for me were getting roped in

productions, lasting friendships were built between the cast and crew of both St Helen’s School and Merchant Taylors’. David Adams recalls: ‘Mark Krais (1981–1986) was Emcee, Will Cook (1982–1986) was Herr Schultz and Tom Isaacs (1981–1986) sang a stunning solo of the provocative Tomorrow Belongs To Me . The Great Hall windows were adorned with Nazi swastikas; they were unfurled during the interval, giving the audience quite a shock on their return. Part of the ambition was Julian Slator’s amazing stage design, which was a huge undertaking for him in addition to directing (and teaching). There were some very late nights, into the early hours, with frazzled teachers and pupils trying to resolve lighting rigs and other technical difficulties of moving trucks on stage, with a two-level stage and multiple scene changes. I recall being nudged awake by David Mash during one class and, expecting some wrath, was greeted unexpectedly by a smile and assurance that he knew the reason why I had dropped off!’. David Adams continues: ‘During the performances one of my tasks was to throw a brick through a window of Herr Schultz’s greengrocer’s shop. On the last night, the corner of the brick hit the

Concordia Winter 2024

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Herr Schultz Cabaret (1984)