ENTERPRISING students looked to their own skills to help raise funds for Rossendale Hospice and, despite snowy weather, the show went on.
Six members of the Youth Enterprise team from Year 10 at Haslingden High School are also members of Drama Lab, a program that helps students develop skills in improvisation, script writing and devised drama.
Ben Lees, 15, said: “It was a group idea to put on a show and we went to Miss Anthony and asked her to help us with the drama side.
“We also arranged advertising and sorting tickets and it was my idea to sell cut-price tickets for the dress rehearsal which was immediately after school before the show in the evening.”
That meant the young performers had already experienced an audience of 20 at the dress rehearsal of Winter Showcase so they had feedback before they staged it in front of nearly 100 students and parents.
In September, Haslingden High introduced Drama Lab and now 90 students attend after-school sessions for juniors, seniors and freshers.
Head of Drama Lizzy Anthony said: “We do brilliant shows at Haslingden High School so the Youth Enterprise thought it would be a good way to raise money.
“The show helped the Youth Enterprise team add an extra £630 to their fundraising total.”
The show started with Blood Brothers and the cast made their way through the audience down the gangways between the seating and on to the stage.
Two other extracts from Blood Brothers were included along with dance pieces from the school’s show in December and three LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts) monologues.
Ben sold raffle tickets on the door and also went on stage as Edward in Blood Brothers in all three acts and he delivered a monologue based on Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
He said: “I was the Finance Manager in the Youth Enterprise team and the experience gave me a lot of skills, as we had to learn about publicity and will have to do public speaking when we deliver our presentation in front of the judges.”
Katie Leonard, 14, said: “I was one of the performers and I played Linda, the girlfriend of Mickey in Blood Brothers, and I also gave a monologue.”
She first got interested in drama when her sister was attending Cotton Shed Theatre Company and she saw her performing in a production, so Katie joined too.
She now attends Drama Llama, a Rossendale based theatre company that runs after school clubs at various locations.
She said: “I have also been in other school shows and was King Duncan in Macbeth. I have always liked being in the spotlight and we have great drama teachers here at Haslingden High.”
The team, that like all school teams were initially given £50 as part of the challenge, also held a raffle for a giant hamper and several other fundraisers taking their total to in excess of £1,000.
Schools taking part in the challenge will deliver their final presentations on January 28 at Alder Grange School in Rawtenstall