Making History in the Repton Mysteries!

It was wonderful to enjoy the Repton Mysteries last week – the first major production in the newly refurbished 400 Hall. The production was a combination of original material written by Mr Owen and an original musical score written by Mr Hodgkinson. The combination was very powerful indeed and it was a delight to see so many of the girls taking the opportunity to go and watch the play as well as be involved in it. This production told the Christian story from the fall of Lucifer to the Last Judgement and contained peaks at the Nativity and the Passion of Christ – following the pattern of the traditional Mystery plays.

As is the mark of the Mitre – the girls were heavily involved in all aspects of the production – one that lent itself to a holistic approach with set and costume design, musicians, front of House, back stage crew and the actors all coming together in this spectacular piece of drama with which to open the newly refurbished theatre.

On stage – Wiebke Green U6M gave a mesmerising performance as the fallen angel – Lucifer. She had the audience amazed by her presentation of character and her memorable portrayal of temptation in the Garden of Eden leading to “The Fall”.

Rachel Higgins 5M, Daisy Collins 5M and Phoebe Roberts 5M all played Noah’s sons wives and provided some comedy to the production. Their yellow raincoats and dolls proved some of the really amusing moments of the evening and it was lovely to see them enjoying themselves so much both on and off stage. Fantastic too was the involvement of Hannah Boyle 3M, Isabella Florence-Jukes 3M, Molly Papadopoullus 3M and Maddy Whitten 5M who all had roles to play in the crowd scenes and helped to pull the whole production together.

Behind the scenes Jemima Hand 3M played a key role in the back stage technical crew and it was superb to see her already so heavily involved in Repton drama.

Before the performances had even begun members of the House were already involved in the production with Ciara Hale U6M and Serena Slack U6M both helping with the costume design.

One of the unique elements of this production was the original music written by Mr Hodginkison. Throughout the performance there was a cleverly perceived snippet of the famous Parry Hymn Dear Lord and Father of Mankind woven into the music. Mitre musicians for the performances included some of the most talented musicians in school – Kate Jankinson 3M on the violin, Polly Sloman 4M on the clarinet and Stephanie Hale L6M on the Horn. These musicians played alongside professional members of the department including Mitre tutor Mr Cadman to produce some very memorable music to go alongside the dramatic performances on stage.

Many other members of the U6th and L6th were involved through their positions in the Front of House team. This was all directed by Emily Renshaw U6M in her capacity as the Front of House assistant. It was lovely to see this team coming together and important for the audience to be greeted by these smiling faces as they entered the theatre for the performances.

Well done to all involved. It was truly wonderful to see the production come together and I am delighted that so many girls were involved in the historic re-opening of this amazing new facility and performance space.