Music, scouts and drama

The last few weeks have been pretty hectic with school and Old Mancunian events.  First, our return to St John's, Smith Square, Westminster for another showcase concert given by our musicians.  This modern tradition of a biennial concert was started with the support of the Old Mancunians London and SE Section, which offers a generous biennial composition prize serving as the pinnacle of all composition work at school.  The winner pockets £500 and has the privilege of this piece receiving its world premiere at Smith Square.  This year, well done Patrick Heaton.  And well done all the performers and the staff involved - the audience enjoyed a fantastic musical occasion.

As I wasn't in charge of the arrangements this year, I indulged myself by turning the trip to London into an adventure and rode my motorbike the 220 miles from home in N Wales to Westminster - avoiding congestion charge and parking problems.  I must admit that I was more than a bit chilly by the time I got home at half past two of a beautiful moonlit night.

Last weekend saw a large-scale reunion of former Troop 1 Scouts at school, with an enjoyable lunch and the presentation to school of the marvellous archive built up over the years by Simmie and Alan Jones.  Fascinating to see the many generations of former scouts, and speculate about how their teenage scouting experiences shaped their adult lives.

Then on Friday I caught up for lunch with Old Mancunian Robert Powell, starring in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, on tour at Theatr Clwyd, Mold.  Hugely enjoyed the evening performance - fantastic comic timing from RP and a memorable play by Keith Waterhouse, one of Bernard's brothers-in-arms as a journalist and drinker.

Do see this play if you have the chance as it tours the country.

Where did November go?

Well from a personal point of view I'm glad to see the back of November, which has been full of family illnesses, but we did round off the month with a great Robert Powell evening in the new theatre.

Robert and Liza Goddard, assisted by friends on piano and flute, presented Silver Screen, a brief history of the movies.  From silent films to Spielberg, lots of great quotations and extracts provided ample opportunities for a wide range of voices, amongst which Michael Caine was outstanding.

Robert reminisced, too, about his previous appearances on the MGS stage, including his King Lear, when he starred with Michael Wood's Cordelia.

Our evening ended with a gala supper in the Refectory, and produced more than £1,000 towards the Drama Centre Fund.  thank you, Robert and friends.

We're open!

We had a fantastic opening night of our new theatre last night, when we hosted a concert given on behalf of Life for a Life Memorial Forests, one of our partner charities, to help launch a campaign to install in Manchester a bronze statue of Chopin, presented by the Republic of Poland as a gesture of friendship to a city known for its hospitality.

It was great to see the new theatre work so well - there is plenty of hospitality space in surrounding studios for the audience at the interval, and the new seats really are comfortable.  The new stage accommodated just a wonderful pianist and soprano in the first half, but after the interval we loaded it with members of two military bands and a corps of drummers.  The acoustics were excellent, and a good time was had by all.

I've been asked by many people when 'the opening' of the new facilities is to take place.  The truth is that we are having a number of openings.  Next Tuesday, a panel of distinguished Old Mancs will conduct a Question Time event with a capacity audience comprising those of the hundreds of our donors who have been able to accept our invitation to attend to accept our thanks for their help.

On 27 November we have a performance by Robert Powell, Liza Goddard and friends which will be our first visiting professional production.  Details at http://www.mgs.org/.  Our first big student show will take place next year, when we hope that Sir Nicholas Hytner, Director of the National Theatre and Chairman of the campaign which raised the funds for the drama centre, will be able to attend.  Happy days!

Time to celebrate

After a 4-year fundraising campaign and an 18-month build, we are excitedly awaiting the official handover of our new Drama Centre at the end of this month.

Alongside the rebuilt theatre, two studios have been converted from the previous Masters’ and Prefects’ Common Rooms, and each is ideal for drama teaching within the curriculum and for rehearsals.  Studio 1 (on the site of the former PCR) is equipped with technical gantries which will allow pupils safely to learn the art of theatre lighting and sound, and the studio will be the venue for in-the-round small-scale shows.  The theatre itself also now has technical gantries, but more spectacularly still it has a high fly-tower above the re-worked stage, allowing scenery (and even actors?) to be flown in and out.  We have a full-sized orchestra pit for musicals, the rake of the theatre seating is steeper, and of course the new seats are upholstered and comfortable.  We have made changing rooms out of nearby offices, and the old Tuck Shop has been transformed into a refreshments bar.

We are having a series of opening events, starting with a ‘Thank You’ evening for our donors on 9 November, when a star-studded Old Mancunian panel will feature in an ‘Any Questions’-style evening. Invitations have gone to all who donated to the project.

On Saturday 27 November OM Robert Powell will be bringing some friends to perform a light-hearted history of cinema, Silver Screen. We shall be providing a gala supper to follow the show. Tickets will be on sale from early October via www.mgs.org or the Development Office. Very generously, Robert and his colleagues are donating the proceeds of the evening to our final fundraising push.

MGS has produced great drama over many years, with a host of old boys going on to professional fame as actors, producers and directors.  Countless more have maintained a lifetime interest in the theatre.  I think that we can confidently expect our new Drama Centre to inspire new generations to equal, if not greater, achievements.