As an NSTA representative, I had the pleasure of attending Nottingham Girls’ High School’s production of Rent on Tuesday 10th March 2026. Directed by Natasha Oakley, it was a brave, fresh and powerful piece of theatre, marked by a slick yet understated professional approach that gave the performance real confidence. Rather than overplaying the scale or emotional weight of the musical, the company trusted the material and their audience, and that restraint made the production all the more effective.

Set against the gritty backdrop of New York City’s East Village in the late 1980s, Rent is a groundbreaking rock musical that reimagines Puccini’s La Bohème for a modern generation. Jonathan Larson’s masterpiece tells a powerful, poignant story of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to create and survive under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. Since its debut, the production has become a cultural phenomenon, celebrated for its raw emotional honesty and its anthemic score. Rent won four Tony Awards in 1996, including Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Book of a Musical.

From the outset, the audience was fully engaged. Mark’s filming of the crowd, breaking the fourth wall from the very start, was an inspired touch that immediately dissolved the distance between stage and audience. This established the self-aware, intimate tone that carried through the evening.

At the centre of the production was the sensitively realised relationship between Mark and Roger, played by Eleni and Grace. Their performances were grounded and convincing, with flawless use of accents throughout, and together they gave real emotional weight to the story. The audience quickly became invested in them, particularly as Roger awkwardly fumbles to attract Mimi’s attention, allowing the emotional stakes of the piece to build naturally.

Tahlyah’s Mimi was another performance that grew in strength as the show progressed. While she brought the necessary energy and flirtation to the earlier, more upbeat and frivolous “Out Tonight”, it was in “I Should Tell You” that her performance became especially compelling. Here, Tahlyah combined excellent singing with an emotionally nuanced portrayal of character, revealing Mimi’s vulnerability and giving the role far greater depth.

As Angel, Fern’s vibrant, energetic performance beautifully encapsulated all that Rent stands for. Full of charisma and warmth, she lit up the stage, and her rendition of “Today 4 U” showed a slick command of rap and techno-inflected styling while remaining playful and sharply characterised. It was a fun performance, but one with poignancy close beneath the surface. Angel’s relationship with Collins was one of the most affecting elements of the production. At first, the pairing of these seemingly mismatched characters provided welcome comic relief against the emotional intensity elsewhere, particularly around Mark’s feelings for Maureen. Yet as the narrative darkened, their relationship came to embody some of the musical’s most painful themes: LGBTQ+ persecution, love under pressure, and the AIDS crisis that shadows the lives of the characters throughout. Lucy’s Collins was especially strong in navigating this shift. She brought excellent comic timing to the earlier scenes, but also handled the more emotive moments with assurance and sincerity. “I’ll Cover You” was a particular highlight.

Caiti’s Maureen was also well judged. Initially, she was exactly the kind of character the audience enjoyed disliking, and Entwistle leaned effectively into the melodramatic, art-house caricature of the role, especially in the wake of Maureen’s treatment of Mark. As Eleni’s Mark brooded and moped across the stage, Maureen was a whirlwind trampling across his feelings. Yet as the production unfolded, she revealed greater emotional depth, particularly through Maureen’s growing relationships with Mimi and Angel, which helped make the character feel more rounded and human.

Other supporting performances added greatly to the production’s depth and texture. Amelia’s Joanne was steady and dependable throughout, a voice of reason and reality in a world of dreamers and creatives. It was a role played with maturity and an effective reserve that worked especially well against the volatility of those around her. Willow’s Benny offered an excellent portrayal of capitalist consumerism, and in doing so made a pointedly contemporary statement. Lucia, meanwhile, was fantastic as the increasingly concerned Mrs. Cohen, delivering the role with control, pace and comic precision.

The ensemble was outstanding throughout. Their clever use of movement helped establish scene and atmosphere even where staging was minimal, and they brought tremendous energy to the performance. “La Vie Bohème” was especially successful in this respect, full of momentum and life.

The second half opened with a particularly memorable “Seasons of Love”, one of the standout moments of the evening. The vocals were excellent, and the movement work, choreographed by Natasha Oakley, was especially effective, combining clarity, elegance, and emotional resonance. 

The funeral scene, and the moments immediately after it, were especially powerful. As the characters began to drift apart, seemingly having been held together by their shared love for Angel and now painfully divided by grief, the production found one of its most affecting images. The emotional unravelling of the group was handled with real maturity, and when Mark and Roger were left alone on stage, their vulnerability came sharply into focus. This was superbly demonstrated using voice and physicality by Eleni and Grace, whose performances in these quieter moments were among the most moving in the production.

It was also refreshing to see the band treated as such an integral part of the production. In many school shows, musicians are hidden away or overlooked, but here, in a musical where the score is so central to the show’s identity, it was lovely to see that they were visible and felt like part of the wider ensemble. Led by Emily Lawson, they contributed enormously to the production’s sense of cohesion and vitality.

This was a production that balanced polish with emotional honesty, theatrical flair with restraint. Nottingham Girls’ High School delivered a Rent that felt assured, intelligent and deeply felt: a credit to the hard work, talent and commitment of all the pupils and staff involved.