Old boy returns with new theatre company

Scott Ellis, artistic director of The Merely Players, is staging Last Man Standing at Wales High School.

The play — following four Yorkshiremen in the First World War trenches — was written by drama and English teacher Jude Cole.

It was devised in 2005 by a group of Year 11 pupils — including Ellis — and was later published as a text suitable for Key Stage 3 and 4 students.

Scott (27) said: “The class spent a residential weekend in the Derbyshire countryside working on the play.

“We would get up at 6.30am to drill as army soldiers before marching off, leaving our pretend girlfriends behind.”

“Because we were all friends in class, those relationships came through when we were improvising, and they are the same friendships you see in the play. It gave the process a real honesty.”

Scott went to London drama school LAMDA after studying at Wales and has appeared with the likes of Sir Trevor Dunn in the West End. He formed The Merely Players in 2009.

Last Man Standing is part of the school’s Great War commemorations, with the actors also taking part in workshops with classes studying the text.

Playwright Mr Cole said: “It will be a pleasure to see the play come home. It is an exciting opportunity for our students to consider some of the issues raised by a play written by their predecessors and brought to us by one of the original cast and his talented team of professional actors.

“It is both the history of our country and of our school.”

Last Man Standing takes place at the school on Friday and Saturday, March 13 and 14, at 7pm.

The players will also perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Monday and Tuesday, March 16 and 17, also at 7pm, before taking it on a UK tour.

Tickets are £10 (£6 concessions) from the school, on the door or at www.themerelyplayers.com. A discount is available for attending both shows.