Scene from ‘Pillow Man’

On Monday 31 March 2014, the BTEC Extended Diploma in Performing Arts (Acting) year one students at Preston College performed five play excerpts which were directed by year two students; all under the watchful eye of Anne Markland, programme team leader for performing arts at the College.
Each excerpt piece was neatly crafted creating a particular concept, affording the actors to demonstrate much versatility in their art.

Scene from ‘Squirrel’

The five concept pieces had the following titles:

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‘Pillow Man’ directed by Reece and Liam
‘Squirrel’ directed by Spinderella
‘100’ directed by Aqua and Alex
‘Chair’ directed by Aidan and Nicola
‘Mourning’ directed by Shannon

Scene from ‘100’

‘Pillow man’ was a harrowing act yet quite intriguing. Centred around a police investigation of a young man in custody of a controlling authority, it appeared as if the intent was to criminalise him no matter what he pleaded.

‘Squirrel’ was basically a conflict of personal ideas and thoughts between two writers, one who had a fairy-tale attitude to life and the other seeing the harsh reality.

Scene from ‘Chair’

The essential concept of ‘100’ was about a person who had died and arrived in some intermediary place to be given a chance to re-live the most cherished moment of his life, meanwhile the time taken to decide and re-enact the moment was limited by a countdown of a digital display from 100 to 0.
‘Chair’ was a very poignant act concerning a lady and a person with learning difficulties in her care, of whom she could no longer cope with the responsibility bestowed upon her. The conclusion of which lead to quite a sad and dramatic end to the story.

Scene from ‘Mourning’

Finally, a story about a dying mother and the differing effects this had on her offspring. Sadness, conflict and eventual ‘Mourning’ was the conclusion to this well played piece.

It was an excellent way to spend an evening and really wonderful to see all the young budding actors pulling all the stops out to give the best performance possible.
Well done all of you!

Did you go to this event and if so what are your opinions? Please let us know in the comments.