Cannons Creek Independent High School held its annual Inter-house plays on 23 September, where Riverside House were crowned the overall winners. The theme for the House Plays in 2025 was “Truth or Dare.” The Grade 11s were divided into groups of six pupils and received a specific setting and two compulsory characters for the plays that they had to write and direct. Peak’s play setting was a haunted cottage; Riverside was backstage at a talent show, and Lonsdale in a detention classroom. They wrote wonderful creative plays with the assistance of ChatGPT and a lot of their own input. They were limited to ten characters per play and the length of the play should not have been more than about ten minutes. Ms Yanou Pienaar (HOD English: Bishops College) was the adjudicator as she has a wealth of experience – being a South African teacher, writer, and theatre director known for her work in the Cape Town school drama and theatre scene. The following awards were recognised:

The winning house, Riverside for their performance of ‘Backstage at a talent show’. Back row: Zoë Inegbese, Safiya Rooknodien, Kai De Kock, Leah Kooyman.
Front row: Ms Yanou Pienaar (Adjudicator), Sophia Stamatiadis, Baily Manko, Belle Laithwaite, Hannah Van Aarde, and Ms Judith Herbig (HOD: Drama).

• Best Technical/Staging: Lonsdale
• Best Supporting Performers: Lara Hawyn, Mia Nasson, Emma Roets, Zoë Inegbese
• Best Actor: Nathanael Thackwray
• Best Actress: Georgie Credé
• Best Directors and Best House Play: Riverside

A comment from the Adjudicator:

“I just want to say thank you so much, it is so nice to be here, and to see all your plays and your creativity on stage, I really, I really enjoyed it. I thought there was some very clever staging, and I thought that most of you used the space really well, and you made a lovely attempt at technical things. I really enjoyed the stories, I thought that you, with your chat GPT prompts, used it pretty well, and there’s some really nice and original things, and it was just so nice to be here, and I hope to come back at some stage and see some more of your work, so thank you.”