The Troll premieres at Trinity School

16 Jul 2015

Trinity pupils aged 10-15 (Years 6-10) staged a brand new adaptation of the story of The Troll written especially for them. The play is by Head of Drama Productions Andy Godfrey and was performed at Trinity’s Mitre Theatre on 17th, 18th and 19th June 2015.Impressively, every boy who auditioned had a role written for them, giving many an opportunity to tread on stage for the first time.

Andy Godfrey explains: “I decided to write The Troll after reading about Trolls in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. It seems our understanding of what a Troll is comes from modern films and television. In Scandinavian folklore some Trolls looked just liked humans and they lived in groups away from others. In other stories Trolls were ugly but harmless. What I found the most interesting is that many different cultures from across the world have their own version of what a Troll is.”

An experienced playwright, The Troll is Andy Godfrey’s seventh play written for young people coming after Pirates, performed at the Edinburgh Festival and at the inaugural Croydon Heritage Festival in 2013. The Troll is set in a kingdom in the clutches of a killer troll and a tyrannical king, but all is not as it seems as a group of soldiers set off to slay the beast.

One of three student co-directors, Tom Pacitti (Year 10) said: “I enjoyed directing the play; it was very interesting to see the play develop and improve as a result of our input.” Andy Godfrey praised the boys for their work: “A large cast of boys worked incredibly hard to put on The Troll and they were very well supported by the technical crew and the directors, who really helped shape the final version of the play.”

 

Photo: ‘The Troll Hunter’, Robert Litster (Year 10)