THIS was, I believe, the first ever collaboration between a local amateur society and a school, and was a brave and innovative step for a company that has been showered with plaudits since its inception.
You may think I am exaggerating when I say that Dan Brian’s well-staged production was marvellous, awe-inspiring and absolutely brilliant, but doubt me not. The performances of the vastly experienced Impact members were faultless, and the standard they set was easily matched by the thirteen QE pupils and one teacher completing the cast.
QE French teacher Frances Aspinall is definitely in her prime, and has plainly been hiding her light under a bushel for far too long. Her Jean Brodie was a magnificent, glorious character whose outspoken and outlandish ways were in perfect contrast to Patricia Richardson’s wonderfully repressed spinster headmistress, Miss MacKay, with both the living embodiment of Muriel Spark’s fictional creations.
Of the girls taking part, Caroline Dendy gave a mature, measured performance as Sister Helena, and Beth Banfield (Sandy), Lauren Callaghan (Monica), Jennifer Bartlett (Jenny) and Jennie Singleton (Mary MacGregor) created well-rounded characters and coped particularly well with the difficulties of having to age from pre-teen to late adolescence.
A truly outstanding production.

Linda Kirkman
Courtesy of the Bournemout Daily Echo