WILLIAM HOWARD School has stepped up preparations for the debut of its National Connections Festival production.
Connections is the National Theatre's annual, nationwide youth theatre festival and has been running as a programme that champions the talent of young people across the UK for 27 years.
As part of this year's festival, selected students at the Brampton secondary school have been chosen to bring to life Ed Harris's 'Strangers Like Me'.
A number of students have been selected for key roles in the production, with Year 8 student Aiden Hodgson taking on the leading role of 'Elbow'.
Preparations for the school's show have also included Year 13 students such as Grace Elder and Nieve McAree, who are working on the final production alongside Year 9, 10, 12 and 13 who have also created sound, lighting, set, props and costume.
Everyone involved with the production has been rehearsing since October, with rehearsals intensifying ahead of opening night next week.
William Howard's take on 'Strangers Like Me' will run at the school for two nights, debuting on Thursday, February 9 and concluding the next evening.
After finishing its run at William Howard School, the students will take the show on the road and perform at Keswick's Theatre by the Lake.
During these performances, members of Connections will visit the school's production before selecting 10 from 300 participating schools across the UK to perform their piece at The National Theatre in London.
William Howard School's peforming arts and drama teacher Rikki Inglesfield has played a key role in bringing the production to life and spoke about the process.
She said: "This is the first full school production play that we have done in the 10 years I have been here. Last year we did a Sixth Form production called 'Accidental Death of an Anarchist', and there were only six in the cast, so this is the first time that we have done a play rather than a musical so this is different."
Rikki also spoke about how proud she is of all the students who have played a part in bringing the production to life.
For tickets contact the drama department on drama.contact@williamhowardschool.cumbria.sch.uk
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