On Thursday, 18^th September, the Grade 9/10 Drama students relished performing their whole-class play in the Riverside High School Hall.  The evening performance was attended by a host of family and friends who all enjoyed the opportunity to see the students strut their stuff.  The performances were all outstanding with many in the audience saying they were close to tears as they watched the young actors create such believable characters on stage.  The play was set in a school and dealt with some challenging themes of grief, anxiety and pressure, and many members of the audience congratulated the group on how touching the play was and how sensitively these complex themes were handled.

On the following night the students took the play on the road, performing in the 70^th Anniversary of the Deloraine Youth Drama Festival.  Riverside High School has had a long association with the festival which happens to be the longest running youth drama festival in Australia, so it was great to be there to be part of the anniversary celebrations.  Angus R was awarded Runner Up Best Actor and there was lots of positive feedback provided to everyone by the adjudicator.

The students are to be commended for their solid efforts throughout the rehearsal period and their commitment they showed to their performance on stage.  Performing in front of an audience is one of the most challenging experiences a student can have and each and everyone of these students should be congratulated on their contribution to the smooth running of the show.  Not a line was dropped, or a cue missed.  A special mention must also be made in gratitude to Greyson C-H, Ace K and Hope G, who stepped in to help with sound, lighting and curtain.  Hope also stepped in to fill in an acting role at Deloraine, which is a huge ask of a Grade 8 student to step up and perform with the senior Drama student cohort.

The Drama Performance night was a great success and the students performed beautifully and behaved impeccably over the two nights.  It is a joy to see all their hard work pay off with such a well-received performance that was so thoroughly enjoyed by the audiences both here and at Deloraine.

Mrs McMahon