St Leonards pupils showcase talents at Edinburgh Fringe

Published on isbi School News dated Tuesday 18th of September 2012

In August, St Leonards drama pupils showcased their talents on the biggest artistic stage in the world, performing their version of 'Billy Liar' at the Edinburgh Fringe.
This was the first time in over a decade that the school had appeared at the world famous Festival.
Nickie Ledger, Head of Drama at St Leonards and Director of the show, said, 'This is the first time that St Leonards boys have appeared at the Fringe as last time the School was there it was before 1999 so it was still an all-girls school.
'The students were really excited at being given the opportunity to take this show to a wider audience and perform for people who hadn't seen what St Leonards can do.'
The pupils embarked on a series of fund raising activities in order to fund the production, which was co-directed by RADA trained actor and director James Russell. Uniquely, several multi talented members of the acting cast also played a part in the live band.
Three nights of the six date run were sold out and performances were extremely well received.
According to Nickie however, the most important thing was that the students 11 pupils from Years 9 (S2) through to IB2 (S6) gained from the experience.
'The first thing they said at the end was, 'What are we doing next time?', she said.
'It was such a positive experience that we will have to do it again.
'It was so good for the students to see that their performances were so well received in a non-St Leonards environment.'