Hollywood actress Dame Emma Thompson DBE surprises Plymouth pupils with virtual guest appearance

A Hollywood actress has surprised pupils at a high school in Plymouth with a message of praise for performers who re-enacted famous scenes from her films.

Plymouth High School for Girls, which has a house system, holds an annual drama festival where each house puts forward representatives to deliver a show based on an assigned theme.

For this academic year, the theme was iconic actors and actresses, where pupils paid homage to famous scenes from their films. There are four houses at the school: Anthony, who were given Tom Hanks; Latimer, who re-enacted scenes from films featuring Will Smith; Temple, who had Zendaya Coleman and the winners Kendall, who had the opportunity to perform scenes by Dame Emma Thompson, DBE.

As part of their performance, Kendall House performed scenes from much loved films Harry Potter, Matilda and Nanny McPhee. They also reached out to Dame Emma Thompson, DBE, to ask if she would consider recording a 'Good Luck Kendall' message for them to use in their final piece.

Pupils said at no point did they think they would get a response, but they were delighted when they received a video from Dame Emma Thompson, DBE, earlier in the term, which they proudly played as part of their final scene.

Emma Thompson said: “Hi everyone, thank you so much for watching Kendall’s contribution to the drama festival, first of all, which was based on me. Me, what? Why wasn’t I there?

“I wish I were there and wish I’d seen what you had done. I can’t imagine it. Did you sort of re-enact things like the whole of Nanny McPhee? I don’t know. Anyway, I wish I was there with you.

“I was really, really thrilled that I was the subject of such a committed group of students. Lots of love to you all. Have the most wonderful, wonderful time.”

The school said the room erupted with cheers as her message was played out to pupils. It was the talk of the school and a truly memorable moment in their experience at Plymouth High.

The House Festivals, organised by a team of House Captains, are a long-standing tradition at Plymouth High School for Girls, where the pupils can earn points for their house, which contribute to their efforts to win the house shield at the end of the year.

Simon Underdown, Headteacher at Plymouth High, said: “Each house performance was amazing, with clever links and incredible entertainment.

“The message from Emma Thompson was such a wonderful surprise to the pupils, and on behalf of all the school, I would like to thank Dame Emma Thompson DBE for her time in recording this for our pupils and allowing us to replay this to our whole school community.

“It was also wonderful to welcome our guest judge, Saja Altamimi, who is a previous Head pupil at Plymouth High. She studied drama at A-Level and at university, and now works in a theatre with young actors in London. Saja was very impressed with the performances and was honoured to announce the winner of the festival.”