Drama

Joint productions with CLS in the senior school

Each year there are three full scale joint drama performances with boys and girls from both schools: a senior school musical, a junior school play and a senior school play.  

‘Choreographing for Guys and Dolls was a thrilling blend of classic Broadway energy and character-driven movement. Each step must embody the spirit of 1950s New York, blending precision with the vibrant, larger-than-life personalities of the characters.’

Emily Bamkole, Resident Choreographer 

City Shakespeare in Partnership with Guildhall School of Music and Drama

This year we launch our City Shakespeare course in Partnership with Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The first course of its kind to assess flexibility in performance. 

Don't want to act?

At CLSG you can get involved in costume, lighting, sound, stage management, backstage, props making and set design and performance marketing. 

House drama

House drama is a fun-filled opportunity for all students to collaborate and compete within their school houses. Entirely student led – this year we saw Tudor rise to victory with a witty meta-version of Romeo and Juliet, but which house is star-crossed to win in 2025? 

Year 7 play

2024 saw a beautiful and thought-provoking staging of This Changes Everything by Joel Horwood directed by our Director is Residence, Charlotte Everest.  

Year 8 and 9 play

Year 8 and 9 are performing their own adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.  Students are hard at work putting their own spin on the classic story of a young scientist who thinks she’s making the world better by trying to invent life and cheat death. Instead she creates something the world does not understand…! 

Amelia Ward play - the foreign language play

House of Bernada Alba 

The Drama and Spanish departments teamed up to produce our first bilingual play with surtitles! Sixth formers performed the first act of Lorca’s House of Bernada Alba in Spanish, followed by the tragic denouement in English.  

God of Carnage 

CLSG’s next foray into foreign language theatre will take a turn for the comic with a staging of scenes from Yasmina Reza’s fiercely satirical Le Dieu du Carnage/The God of Carnage under the direction of our Foreign Languages Director in Residence, Celine Barclay. 

Trips to the Edinburgh Fringe

CLSG AND CLS pupils took a sellout student led, written and directed courtroom drama: Blindsided to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024! 

Workshops with Little Soldier

Renowned for being one of the leading devising & physical comedy theatre companies in the UK, Little Soldier’s work ranges from laugh out loud comedy to heartfelt autobiography. Each year, students work with them in dynamic and engaging workshops to enhance a variety of skills.

Hispanic and French play competitions

Three budding CLSG linguists brought together their passion for French and Classics in an award-winning performance of Andromaque at the Francophone theatre festival. The judges declared their unique staging of Hermione’s monologue the clear winner of ‘Best Play’! 

Awarded ‘Best Group Performance’ and ‘Best Actress in a supporting role’ at the Hispanic play competition, CLSG students performed an extract from Lorca’s The Shoemaker’s Wife. They were praised for their efforts to lift Lorca’s lyrical prose off the page with a physical theatre inspired twist. 

Lunchtime drama clubs

Keen linguists and dramatists in KS3 are given the chance to write and perform scenes in other languages at the weekly MFL club. Recently students improvised and wrote a scene inspired by the Taylor Swift’s French intro to her song ME! 

Our Play in a Day workshops with Arvon

Pupils across the school are given the opportunity to work on their writing skills with our yearly visits from professional playwrights leading workshops. We also run a ‘poem in a day’ workshop with Arvon.

Co-curricular theatre trips

We take advantage of our location in the heart of London with regular theatre trips for all year groups. Recently, years 12 and 13 when to see the acclaimed production of Our Country’s Good at Lyric Hammersmith.