STUDENTS from St Catherine's Loyola and Manresa Drama Clubs showed off their acting skills last week during their respective productions of The History Hop and Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The History Hop was directed by Shelley Cornish and Melissa Pepper and told the story of music over the history of time, from the caveman to Strauss to modern music.

Manresa Drama Club co-ordinator Mhairi Underwood directed the well-known tale of Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

A full dress rehearsal was performed in front of the school on Friday, followed by an opening night performance on Friday night and a matinee performance on Saturday.

Both stage productions were the culmination of two terms' work for both drama clubs and the students' perseverance paid off, earning them the praise of their respective directors.

"We couldn't be more proud of them," Ms Cornish said.

"We've had several comments about how polished (the students) were for The History Hop with many not having previous dance experience.

"It went off without a hitch at every performance. I've had so much fun in rehearsals and when it gets towards show time and things get stressful, to have them pull it off and do such a marvellous job, just makes it all worthwhile."

Ms Underwood said the performance of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was "fantastic".

"For Year 7, 8 and 9 students, they've put on a wonderful production and they will only get better with age," she said.

Ms Underwood said the students had started preparing in first term with basic acting classes and began learning their parts after the school secured the rights for the play in second term.

"We're very proud and quite relieved.

"I think it's time everybody has a well-deserved rest," she said.