Arts News
YOH Fest- Year Ten Drama
On 8 August the Year Ten drama students embarked on a journey to the Albany Town Hall to present our drama performance. YOH Fest was established originally so that students could talk and perform about health in a way that they felt was easier and more engaging than conversing, thus why the YOH stands for Youth on Health. We arrived at the Town Hall at around 1.00pm with the other schools already fired up and preparing their props.
We were escorted to our own private room where we were able to rehearse and plan for the day ahead, and soon after we were taken back up to the stage for a short team building workshop run by the workers of YOH Fest where we were able to meet some other amazing drama students from various schools including Mount Barker High School and Bethel Christian School. After the workshop all teams took turns on the stage practicing their acts of drama and music, after which we went and had dinner down the street before returning to watch the other schools perform and perform our own piece which we were all excited to do. Once everyone had performed awards were given, which Grammar received two of, but even if we didn’t get any awards, the experience itself was priceless and I would gladly do it 1000 times over.
Josiah Felton | Year Ten student
The Year Ten drama class participated in the YOH Fest yesterday and performed a 10 minute play with scenes written by each person in the class. The theme of the competition was 'Respect', so we centred our play around a teen boy, Hugo. The story followed Hugo as he is teased by friends and family until he finds help in a friend, and with that help, is able to resolve the problems through communication, rebuilding the missing respect links.
Yesterday we travelled to the Town Hall at about lunchtime, where we rehearsed and finalised our play. We then performed in front of a Judge without an audience, and later again, after dinner at the kebab shop, in front of an audience with the other schools included. The experience was really fun and was a great time to bond and learn more about our peers and ourselves. I feel we really managed to get across the theme of respect in a light, funny way while having fun at the same time.
Evie Roxburgh | Year Ten student
The Year Ten drama students from Great Southern Grammar went to the Town Hall on Tuesday 8 August to participate in YOH Fest. YOH Fest is an event where schools from all over Western Australia perform artistic pieces – whether they are short plays, songs, or even dances. These performances are then judged, and the schools all compete for the top spot for the year. Our class performed a 10-minute play called ‘Hugo’, in which the main character – Hugo – was having trouble with respect in multiple places, such as family, social, and even himself. This ties into YOH Fest’s theme of respect this year. I was tasked with working with the lighting, and as the play begun, I was taken up to the lighting box to do the transitions between scenes. I also changed the projection image behind the actors as the setting changed in the play. YOH Fest was a very enjoyable experience, and I’m excited to participate in it again next year, hopefully on-stage next time.
Willow Golding | Year Ten student
YOH Fest is an exciting annual arts festival that engages students in health education through the enjoyment of the performing and visual arts – and this festival is open to all schools in Western Australia. YOH Fest provides a unique opportunity for young people to explore important health issues that have a lot to do with them – and choose to express their opinion through dance, drama, film, song, or Visual art.
YOH Fest was a great way to experience all the different ways respect can be expressed. YOH Fest is a great way to meet other people that have the same interests as you and a great way to experience how everything works, eg. lights, stage, curtains and meeting all the crew that helped out with our play.
Our play ‘Hugo’ was about someone who never got any respect throughout the play but then ended with his mum by his side respecting Hugo’s privacy and his friends apologising to him and respecting him.
Even though I didn’t have many lines or acts to be in, it was still an awesome experience to be on stage in front of all your friends and family. It was fun to be on stage with all my friends and to be a part of something I never would have thought I’d be a part of. Being on stage made me a little nervous when there were many people and schools watching our play and that made me miss a line or two but in the end, I think it worked out.
Sarah Quartermaine | Year Ten student
