The Gold Coast Bulletin

Behind the curtain of award blitz

- EMILY SELLECK emily.selleck@news.com.au

STATISTICS and behindthe-scenes upheaval tell the story in Helensvale State High School’s against-theodds blitz of the city’s annual theatre awards.

The students’ production of Beauty and the Beast was put together on a minuscule budget when compared to their private school counterpar­ts, three of the lead actors had never performed in a musical before and the show’s vocal director left part way through rehearsals.

Despite the obstacles, the team of more than 120 students, teachers and parents took home 10 awards including the coveted Gold Palm Award, outperform­ing eight other schools and 17 community theatre companies.

Director Brett Edwards said it was the first time the school had entered the annual competitio­n.

“I wasn’t planning on entering us but someone said to me ‘you should just give it a go’,” he said. “To be honest we had sort of forgotten about the competitio­n (because) our show was back in August and we weren’t expecting to win anything. So it was such a big surprise.”

Helensvale is the seventh biggest school in Queensland with more than 2500 students. Of that, 700 hopefuls auditioned, with Mr Edwards cutting numbers to about 120.

“We only do a show every second year (because) musicals are such a huge thing to undertake,” Mr Edwards said.

“Auditions are open to the whole school and in that process we find kids who haven’t done drama before but are really talented.

“Three of our lead actors who played Lumiere, Cogsworth and LeFou were in Years 8 and 9 and hadn’t done a show before.

“We’re lucky to have an academy program that kids can audition for from out of the catchment area because we end up with some really talented students.”

The school took home awards for Best Costumes and Best Vocal Director despite setbacks in both areas.

“Arts funding is usually the first to get cut so we don’t have a big budget,” Mr Edwards said.

“Anything that we can’t beg, borrow or steal we have to make from scratch for as cheap as possible. We source and recycle everything ... our art director even found some great things at the tip.

“Our fantastic vocal director, who was a former student, got accepted into a university program in Auckland and had to leave early.

“But a few of our senior students stepped up, it was really (heartwarmi­ng) to see.”

Thalia Doherty, who won Best Supporting Actress for her performanc­e as Mrs Potts, made an emotional speech at the awards dinner.

“I moved here from Victoria this year and didn’t know anyone,” she said.

“Everyone involved was so welcoming and helped me believe in myself.”

 ??  ?? A scene from Helensvale High’s Beauty and the Beast.
A scene from Helensvale High’s Beauty and the Beast.

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