Theatre Studies Trip to See 'A Mirror'

On Wednesday 13 March, the current cohort of GCSE and A Level Drama students visited the Trafalgar Theatre to watch a performance of Sam Holcroft’s A Mirror, directed by Jeremy Herrin. An intriguing piece of political thriller, it explored an unspecified country with a ministry for culture who strictly censor which plays can be performed.

The play features a deep plot, to be steadily realised by the audience over the course of many subtle, but shocking, reveals, and with us as the audience included in the play's big secret. What looks to the state police to be the innocent wedding of Layla (Tanya Reynolds) and Joel (Samuel Adewunmi) is in fact only a facade for the retelling of the story of a playwright who goes against what is allowed in writing plays in his country. However, when the community hall is finally successfully raided by the police, the truth of what is happening is unveiled.

From the perspective of a drama student, A Mirror provided many different points of discussion in both the design elements used and performance skills displayed, which will need to be written about in exams later this year. For example, Jonny Lee Miller’s use of clear diction to show the confidence in his character as opposed to Tanya Reynolds’ use of stuttering and a quieter volume to show the timidity in hers are what is needed to be written about in the live theatre evaluation part of the drama exam.

Many thanks to the staff who accompanied us on this wonderful trip for the drama students, who will no doubt be reminiscing about this thought-provoking piece of theatre in the next couple of months leading up to exams.