Benenden performs at Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Students from Benenden School take ancient Greek-style comedy show to the world-famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Posted by Stephanie Broad | August 10, 2016 | School life

• #edinburgh-festival-fringe
• #theatre
• #benenden-school
• #independent-schools

A group of 13 girls will be performing Frogs - a modern musical version of Aristophanes’s ancient Greek comedy, featuring singing and dancing frogs, the god of rock and a host of unsavoury characters from the underworld - every day from 8-13 August at the Fringe. 

To help market their production, the girls set up their own theatre company, the Centaurs of Attention, and promoted their shows by dressing in bright green outfits and hopping around the city. 

This is the first time Benenden has been represented at the Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world. In 2015 there were 50,459 performances at 313 venues. 

Frogs tells the story of Dionysus and Xanthius embarking on a terrifying journey to the nether-world - to hold a poetry competition. 

Simon Bennie, a Housemaster at Benenden who co-wrote Frogs with Director of Drama Debbie Caron, said: “We are all incredibly excited to be heading for the Fringe. The whole process, from rehearsing to marketing and performing, has been great fun and the girls have really thrown themselves into the absurdity and the chaos of it all!”

The Centaurs of Attention have performed Frogs publicly only twice ahead of appearing at Edinburgh – once to students and again to parents at the School’s Arts Festival in the Spring. 

Noorie Abbas, 17, is one of the Benenden girls who comprise the Centaurs of Attention. She said: “Although we were a bit apprehensive, the opening night at school was a huge success. 

“With the Edinburgh Fringe now closer than ever, we can confidently say on behalf of the cast that we could not be more excited to face this challenge head-on and give it our all.” 

www.benenden.kent.sch.uk