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4 January 2021
This year staff and pupils from Years 7, 8 and 9 of Bolton School Girls’ Division proved to be both creative and adaptive when thinking about this term’s production. Shackled by Covid-19 in terms of delivering a standard play and inviting a live audience into the Senior Girls’ School, they set about working on a radio drama. In September, casts were chosen from each year of Middle School, which allowed student-actors and technicians to rehearse while maintaining the integrity of the bubble configuration. All three plays will be available to members of the school community via the Bolton School TV channel from Monday 14th December.
Miss Talbot, Director of Theatre Studies, Speech and Drama said: ‘We are proud of the students involved. They sustained a positive attitude throughout the process even during periods of self-isolation, when it was necessary to access rehearsals remotely for weeks at a time. During the final stages of the process and the recording sessions, the cast and crew worked with extraordinary levels of focus, commitment and maturity to master the material as well as the new technologies at play.
‘Parr for the Course’ charts the rise and fall and rise again of women’s football over the past 100 years. As members of Bolton School Girls’ Division, we were inspired by the lives and legacies of the Dick, Kerr Ladies – a munitions factory team based in Preston. We would know very little about this extraordinary team if it wasn’t for the pioneering work of Gail Newsham, author of ‘In A League of their Own’. We are very grateful for her fascinating account, which has proved a touchstone throughout the planning and rehearsal process.
We are also grateful to the National Football Museum for supporting our work. Midway through rehearsals, Belinda Scarlett, Curator of Women’s Football at the museum, hosted a webinar exclusively for B.S.G.D. students involved with this production. This proved crucial; Ms. Scarlett’s expertise furthered our appreciation for women’s football and the extraordinary individuals at the heart of this sport. Just as soon as we are able, we hope to take a trip to the National Football Museum to see the Lily Parr statue, which plays a central part in our drama, as well as the permanent gallery, dedicated to this trailblazer of the sport, due to open in spring 2021.’
