PROTAGONISTS: Botany Downs Secondary College students BJ Mallinson, front left, and Alex Soh, and teachers Virginia Lynskey, back left, and Jane Luton, were nominated for AMI Showdown awards for the school’s production of A Christmas Carol. Times photo Wayne Martin.

• Howick and Pakuranga Times

A SCHOOL’S production of A Christmas Carol earlier in the year is yielding gifts and festive cheer following a recent awards ceremony.

Botany Downs Secondary College was nominated for four and won an AMI Showdown award at the Auckland schools drama prize-giving last month.

Students performed the Charles Dickens’ classic in May, when a Showdown judge attended each show.

Year 13 pupil BJ Mallinson was nominated for best leading male in a play for his portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge, while Alex Soh was up for an award for his role as Jacob Marley.

Teacher Virginia Lynskey’s team was in the running for best costume design, and the college’s head of drama, Jane Luton, was rewarded with a Showdown trophy for best set design.

Mrs Luton’s set was constructed in the round, meaning the audience was on all four sides.

“Images were projected onto huge sheets which hung down towards the stage,” she told the Times.

“In one of the scenes, Alex’s character appears suddenly out of a painting about hell and BJ has to interact with the film.”

Mrs Lynskey tapped into gothic, fantasy, punk and Victorian realms for inspiration for the costumes.

“We were less focused on historical accuracy and more on the essence,” she says. “We wanted to link the play to today.”

Mrs Luton adds: “Being about a banker not seeing the real world around him, it wasn’t that difficult.” She says the set and costume design recognition is a result of much teamwork.

“We have an ensemble, not a star system,” she says. “All the students involved are enthusiastic, talented, hard-working and willing to learn.

“[College principal] Mr Leach is really supportive of drama. It has been a focus from the early days.”

Saint Kentigern College also received a number of nominations for its productions of The Three Musketeers and The Wizard of Oz, as did Edgewater College for Disco Inferno.

St Kent’s won the costume design, musical director and people’s choice categories, while Edgewater’s Angela Tolai won best female soloist as Lady Marmalade.