Drama St Mary's Students Swing Into Action

Drama students at St Mary’s University, Twickenham were swung to dizzy heights after a lesson in trapeze skills with a leading performer. Aerialist and physical performer Catrin Osborne, who played Mary Poppins in the London 2012 opening ceremony, came to the Strawberry Hill campus to help with rehearsals of the Physical Theatre students’ upcoming performance of Smog, based on the 1958 novel by Italo Calvino. The play will be directed by visiting lecturer Mitch Mitchelson, who has worked with Catrin in several collaborations and mentored the performer at Circus Space, the national centre for Circus arts. Catrin was invited to St Mary’s to guide students through an aerial trapeze sequence within the show. Smog, which will run from 24th – 26th February, will be the second show of the Drama St Mary’s spring and summer production season. Drawing on inspiration from Calvino’s story of the same name, as well as his 1972 publication Invisible Cities, audiences will be transported to 13th Century China, under the rule of emperor Kublai Khan, with Marco Polo telling a story of a city of the future. Smog will run in the Drama St Mary’s Theatre on 24th and 25th February at Studio 3, before moving to Jacksons Lane in Central London on the 26th. Tickets cost £5 and the play is open to members of the public. For more information and to book please visit the Drama St Mary’s Ticketsource webpage.