On April 30 and May 1, Level 1 Drama put on the first Drama production of the year – With Lots of Love from Georgia, the original book by Brigid Lowry and the play written by HOD Drama Carmela Hughes.
Miss Hughes said, “I adapted this play for stage based on one of my favourite books from when I was a teenager. Set in 2005, Georgia is a 15-year-old girl who lives in a small town in Australia, and she really wants to get to her favourite band’s concert. The story follows her across a few months as she tries to work, deal with her friends who are growing up faster than she is, and her mum, who is still mourning the death of Georgia’s dad. The play is told through her journal and the chorus which acts as the narrator and inner dialogue.
“This is the first time this play has ever been performed, so our students performed it in its guinea pig stage. The original story has over 65 characters and over 10 locations, so the process in adapting it for stage is a work in progress, but I am hoping to eventually get the play published and will credit these students for working on it with me.”
Miss Hughes added, “With two sold-out shows, the feedback from the audience was overwhelmingly positive, commenting how hilarious the students were. Though the story is definitely written for a teenage audience, all the adults who came seemed to love it, too – as they either relived their own adolescence or recognised the characters in their own teenage children.”
