Drama
Eisteddfod Season Kicks Off with Incredible Success!
The past five weeks have been a whirlwind of creativity, courage, and competition for our Pymble Co-curricular Drama students, with multiple teams participating in a wide range of festivals and eisteddfods across Sydney.
Our season began with a bang at the Sydney Eisteddfod, where five of our Drama Eisteddfod Duo/Trio teams competed against up to 14 other schools in their sections. Our Year 7 to 8 teams impressed early, with Ishana Viswanathan (Year 8) and Ariana Singh (Year 8) receiving a Highly Commended for their comedic performance of The Odd Couple. The success continued with our Year 9 to 10 teams, earning Highly Commended for their powerful excerpts from The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband and The Blind Giant is Dancing. A fantastic start to the season and a proud moment for our Pymble performers at their first competition!
The excitement continued the following evening, when our Senior Theatresports team — Chloe Brown (Year 11), Grace McSweeney (Year 10), Lara Waterhouse (Year 10), Dakota Jiang (Year 9), and Sitian Chen (Year 10) — competed in the first heat of the Theatresports Schools Competition. The team placed fourth, walking away with high scores and making it through to the finals.
As our eisteddfod calendar expanded, so too did the performances. After a rigorous inter-class film competition, our Senior Filmmaking class took centre stage with the witty and well-crafted A Midsummer Night’s Meme. The team of Meredith Au (Year 10), Wendy Pan (Year 7), Samadhi Wanniarachchi (Year 7), and Shilin Zhao (Year 7) earned an incredible second place at the Regional Shakespeare Carnival, an exceptional achievement for this talented group of young filmmakers.
As our eisteddfod calendar expanded, so too did the performances. After a rigorous inter-class film competition, our Senior Filmmaking class took centre stage with the witty and well-crafted A Midsummer Night’s Meme. The team of Meredith Au (Year 10), Wendy Pan (Year 7), Samadhi Wanniarachchi (Year 7), and Shilin Zhao (Year 7) earned an incredible second place at the Regional Shakespeare Carnival, an exceptional achievement for this talented group of young filmmakers.
Last week was perhaps our busiest yet, with five eisteddfods in just one week! At the Sharp Short Eisteddfod at Riverside Theatre, three Pymble groups competed, and we were proud to have Jessica Allman (Year 10) and Katerina Economou (Year 10) serve as event emcees. Our Year 10 Drama Eisteddfod group won the heat with their hilarious piece The Court Case of 7 8 9 and advanced to the finals, bringing the audience to tears of laughter.
Our performers also made history by participating in our very first Musical Theatre Eisteddfod, where the Years 9 to 12 Musical Theatre Small Group performed Your Fault from Into the Woods at the Sydney Eisteddfod. Their dynamic performance set a new benchmark for musical theatre at Pymble.
Over the weekend, we celebrated even more achievements at the Parramatta and Inner West Eisteddfods. At Parramatta, Cyma Shah (Year 9) and Isabella Benjamin (Year 9) earned second place for their duologue from Ruby Moon, while Matilda Bentley (Year 9), Cecilia Bryant (Year 9), and Ava Christofides (Year 9) performed powerful monologues, resulting in Highly Commended for Cecilia and Ava and fourth for Matilda in a highly competitive section. Simultaneously, our Year 9 to 10 Drama Duos and Trios returned to the Inner West Eisteddfod, tying for second place with their stellar pieces from The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband and The Blind Giant is Dancing.
It has been an exhilarating start to the eisteddfod season, and we are so proud of all our students for their commitment, passion, and professionalism. With many more competitions still to come, we can’t wait to see what our talented performers will bring to the stage next.
Stay tuned and keep an eye on your emails for upcoming performance times and venues — we’re only just getting started!