Dixon Cup is the House competition that celebrates the Performing Arts at Haberdashers’ Adams. After weeks of practice, pupils come off timetable for the day to contest four categories: Public Speaking, Film, Set Scene and Dance.
Alongside Carol Molin, Teacher of LAMDA at Adams, we were delighted to welcome two new judges:
ON Adam Bradley (Class of 2018), who is known artistically as Adam Laboda, is a Playwright, Director, and Theatremaker, who most recently produced The Lambeth Fringe Festival - one of London's biggest performing arts festivals. He's worked on over 15 performances, including shows from fringe theatre to the West End, and recently joined the team at The Bread and Roses Theatre.
Aisha Numah trained at Hylton Bromley Theatre School and then graduated from London Studio Centre with a BA(Hons) First Class, receiving the Sheila O’Neill Award for Achievement in Music Theatre and Dance. Theatre credits include STARLIGHT EXPRESS (Bochum, Germany); KING LEAR (Orange Tree Theatre); ALADDIN (Riverfront Theatre); PETER PAN (Swansea Grand Theatre); SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARFS (Swansea Grand Theatre); ALADDIN (Sunderland Empire); and THE GIN CHRONICLES (Greater London Tour).
All the entries are led by Sixth Form pupils who work with their house members to create the wonderful results that are performed. Special congratulations to the Arts Captains of each house for their energy, enthusiasm and drive in pulling everything together to give us a wonderful day of entertainment.
Public Speaking
Pupils in each age group have the choice of three topics to speak on for no more than three minutes. The winners were:
- Junior: Jai Sharma (Owen House) debated whether respect is something that must be earned, or should be given to everyone by default?
- Middle: Ryan Mboga (Darwin House) considered what the true attributes of a great leader are?
- Senior: Dan Alex (Owen) addressed the question Should we just blame others or do we all need to take greater responsibility for the world we live in?
Hose Cup
The five houses were challenged to stage a play ‘with a Gothic twist’ in no more than 12 minutes for the Set Scene. These included plays based on the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Oscar Wilde. The two set scenes that made it through to the evening performance were ‘The Landlady’ by Roald Dahl (directed by Gabriel Thornton) and ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ by Washington Irving (directed by Grace Harmitt). Sa’adu were runners up with their brilliant interpretation of Dahl’s sinister tale of an evil Landlady. However, Darwin won the Hose Cup with Irving’s story about a young man haunted by the story of a headless horseman.
Mason Trophy
The film category allows pupils free rein to show their creative skills from script writing through to acting, filming and editing to produce a film that is no more than 8 minutes long. Darwin were runners up with their performance of ‘The Badge’ - the story of a school captain trying to keep his badge of office in the face of a coup. However, the winners were Talbot with their hilarious and heart-warming ‘The Man, The Myth and The Legend’ making it back-to-back wins for Talbot in this category.
Baker Cup
The Dance theme was ‘A Night at the Musicals’ and involved up to 80 house members. Molly Millward of Owen House did a superb job. However, Sa’dau’s Choreography team, including Elizabeth Pearson and Emily Neupauer, prevailed with a stunning victory.
Dixon Cup
This year was one of the closest contests in many years. The judge’s choice for individual contribution was awarded to Tom Oscroft of Webb House. Mr Biggins’ then declared: ‘History has been made!’ as he announced Sa’adu House were the worthy winners of the Dixon Cup for the first time in their history.
Mrs Warwick, Head of House, reflected: “We have had several successes in our first four years, as we have stretched ourselves and built up our self-belief, and now we have scooped one of the top prizes! To everyone in the house, in the words of our namesake, Dr Alfa Sa’adu, you truly are the game-changers. I am so proud to be your Head of House.
To my front team - you had a clear vision from the outset, and you had an unwavering belief in what you wanted to achieve. To Mrs Upton and the backstage crew - your ingenuity in recycling props and costumes year after year to fulfil the requests from our Arts Captains knows no bounds. To all our performers who entered public speaking, danced their socks off or acted out of their skins, thank you for your energy, enthusiasm and commitment!”
Enjoy this gallery of photos: Dixon Cup 2025
