With the help of National Lottery Funding, the Beaumont Drama Department has joined forces with playwright, Mark Wheeller and the Breck Foundation to commission Mark to write a play based on the true and thought-provoking story of Breck Bednar, who was murdered through online grooming at the age of 14. It is an utterly compelling piece of verbatim theatre with important contemporary messages to convey; the performance by Beaumont Drama students will deal with educating young people on how to keep safe online and to recognise the signs of grooming and exploitation in an engaging and creative way The video below explains the background to the true story told by the play. Please note that this is not suitable for children below the age of 15. Earlier this year, the play’s author, Mark Wheeller, visited a workshop run by the Drama department to explore the themes of the piece. ‘Game Over’ was premiered at the Trestle Arts Base, St Albans, on the 12th and 13th July, 7.30-9.00pm.‘Game Over’
A hard-hitting piece of original drama, commissioned by the school.
Rehearsal photos: June 2019
You can view an interview of the author of ‘Game Over’, Mark Wheeller, by BBC news reader Martine Croxall (~9 mins) here. As part of the initial workshop, members of the cast interviewed Mark Wheeller. You can view a film of their conversation (~20 mins), which also involved input from the production director, Lynsey Wallace (Head of Drama), here.
Branwen Jeffreys, BBC Education Editor, has interviewed members of the ‘Game Over’ cast for a future news item.BBC Interview: 19.6.19
The interviews formed part of a feature on the BBC early evening news, broadcast on July 12th, the evening the play premiered.
Rehearsal photos: July 2019
Original music for this production has been composed and performed by two former students: Luke Bainbridge and Yannick Mayaud. Find out more about playwright, Mark Wheeller at his website here. Read an article in New Statesman magazine about the production here. You can find out more about the National Lottery Community fund here. Links
