On 12th February, most of the School body squeezed into a packed Big School for the annual House Drama 2026 competition. This year’s theme was Key Moments in History, with each House given an event as an initial stimuli.
Opening the evening were Longfield House, with the story of Louis Pasteur’s discovery of germs. Framed as a courtroom drama, there were some strong performances all-round and a great sense of ensemble, with wonderful performances from Head of House and Head girl Emily as ‘the germs’.
Dale House followed with a satirical masterpiece, telling of the slightly-recognisable, orange-faced Ronald J Lump, who it turns out was responsible for the Great Fire of London, framed as a mockumentary in the style of The Office.
North followed this with a very straight retelling of the sinking of the unsinkable Titanic, with powerful dramatic performances from all involved. Next up was Durham, with a tongue-in-cheek reimagining of the Apollo mission to land on the moon, including some very hard pratfalls, a fantastic portrayal of the moon by Harry F, and some fabulous costumes.
Marwood presented an alternative imagining of the creation of the World Wide Web filled with in-jokes and self-referential moments as three intrepid schoolgirls aimed to pass an exam. Particular praise from the judges went to Sophia, Liberty, and Grace, who held the whole thing together. Tees followed this up with a fantasy reimaging of the Wright Brothers’ first manned flight, in a tale of love and betrayal.
York House gave us a historically-accurate depiction of the signing of the Magna Carta, with Josh being particularly notable for his portrayal of a power-hungry king forced to bow to the desires of the people.
Last up were Bowes House, telling of the destruction of the Berlin Wall as a documentary team led by Ince and Bradders (Kate and Annabelle), with guest appearances from Barney stalwarts including Darcy as Mrs Campbell and Lorna as Mr Gedye.
Winners for the evening were Dale House, who unanimously had the strongest performance of the evening, leading by 10 points, with Bowes in 2nd. 3rd place went to Longfield House. The 4th- 6th places were separated by the narrowest margin, with Durham and Marwood in the last two slots.
Ben P’s turn as Ronald Lump stood out as the wonderful comedic performance of the evening, and earned him the Best Actor in a Comedic Role award for Dale. Noah B earned Best Supporting Actor for his superb characterisation for Tees. Best Actor for the evening went to Seb S of North for an incredibly restrained, serious performance.
