9 June, 2009: :  Eleven Year 12 students from the Marist Senior School have performed as finalists in the All England Theatre Festival, which took place on Saturday 6 June at the Strode’s Theatre in Somerset.

Further to their success at the Maidenhead Festival in early May where they won 5 awards, the Year 12 actresses won the semi-final round of the All England Theatre Festival competition at Leigh on Sea on 23rd May and followed this success by performing in the competition final which took place in Somerset at the weekend.

The all female cast performed, ‘A Memory of Lizzie’ by David Foxton, which explored the dark story of Lizzie Borden who was tried for the murders of her father and stepmother in America during the 19th century.  Competing against over 250 other original entrants, many of which were adult groups, it is a rare achievement for a school to see this level of success at the All England Festival which places them amongst the top performing amateur theatre companies in England.

Jane Harris, Head of Drama at the Marist Senior School, said "we have all been overwhelmed by the positive reception we have had from the adjudicators and audiences at each stage of the festival.  It has been such a wonderful experience for the girls to get into the top four theatre companies at the final.  At this level, the standard is the highest is the country which is an immense achievement.”

The Year 12 students used both naturalistic and abstract styles in performing the drama about Lizzie Borden who was tried for the murder of her father and stepmother during the late 1800s. Although Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the murder, she was believed by the majority of society to be guilty of the crime and her story has since become an infamous legend.  The cast unwound the dark story of Lizzie through their focused and realistic portrayal of a range of characters from taunting playground children to adult witnesses relaying disturbing evidence during Borden’s trial.

The cast will now go on to compete at the National Drama Association "All Winners Final" being held in Woking on 22nd July.