Ipswich High School pupils met a special guest when they won the chance to stage a 15-minute performance at The Theatre Royal Stratford.

The Year 10 GCSE drama students’ 15-second film about what war means to young people today wowed the judges of the theatre’s Curtain Raiser competition, launched to celebrate the anniversary of Oh What a Lovely War.

“The highlight of the day, apart from the performance of course, was meeting Murray Melvin from the original 1963 cast of Oh What a Lovely War,” said Susanna Bishop, head of drama at Ipswich High School.

“We met Murray in Joan Littlewood’s old office where she slept and worked, which now houses her archive. Murray curates her library and memorabilia. It was so exciting to be up there with him. He wants the picture (of them meeting) to be entered into the archive for future generations of theatre students, which is a real privilege.”

Their show went down a hit with the theatre, the public and the student cast from King’s School, Chester. who were also there.

Year 10 drama technical and design student Emily Casey’s work was also highly commended by the theatre.

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