A class act at King's College, Wimbledon

The year is 1997 and 16-year-old Khalid Abdalla stands centre stage in the theatre of King's College School (KCS), Wimbledon. "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow," he begins. All eyes are on him as he delivers Macbeth's famous lines and, such is the power of his performance, all minds are in the moment, removed from any tomorrows to speak of.
A decade later, however, and it's hard not to view this production in the light of hindsight. Not only is Abdalla now a respected film actor after leading roles in United 93 and The Kite Runner, but several of his peers who were also on stage that night are enjoying similar levels of success.
Firstly, there's comedian Tom Basden (who played Ross), winner of the if.comedy award for Best Newcomer at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe, whose sketch show, Cowards, debuted last month on BBC4. And then there's film director Alex Winckler (Angus), who was short-listed this year for a Best Short Film BAFTA for Ralph, his graduation project from Columbia University.
And that's not even mentioning those who starred in other KCS productions of the time: filmmaker Jonathan Van Tulleken, theatre director Daniel Goldman; and Ben Barnes, best known for his title role in last year's Prince Caspian and soon to be seen in Ealing Studio's remake
of Dorian Gray.
At an academic hot-house like King's - second in the national A-Level league tables at the last count - dramatic achievement is celebrated, but not necessarily prioritised. And with termly fees of £5,000, parents and teachers are likelier to nudge their wards in the more lucrative directions of law school, medicine or the City when it comes to career choices. So why did the Year of 99 spawn so many successes in the arts?
"It's true there was a glut of real talent in that spot," says Philip Swan, the school's head of drama and artistic director of its theatre. "I'm not sure if it's coincidence or not. You had a group of very bright boys in the same year as each other. They were also in some high profile productions,like Macbeth, where a sense of professionalism may have rubbed off on them."
Ask the boys and they will credit Swan himself, who joined King's in 1991 from Highgate School, where he had already directed such stars-in-the-making as Lloyd Owen and Tamsin Greig. Swan quickly marked out his KCS territory with productions by the likes of Pirandello and Fugard, hardly obvious school-play material. But as he says himself: "I'm a bit allergic to the idea of a school play. The only way to understand theatre is to do a production and to do it well. You have to go through a pain barrier, to push on past the point of 'That's good enough'. I never think anything is good enough."
Here, a teacher who is not afraid to shout at, or indeed fire an actor if he isn't up to scratch. But then, boys at King's are used to working and playing hard. Most of the Year of 99 went on to Oxbridge, and Swan proudly recalls the recent example of a boy who captained the 1st XV, won a place at Cambridge and played the lead in Oedipus the King, all in the same term.
"It's never been considered by any of the intelligent boys that drama is not something worth doing," he says. "And it's partly because they are so intelligent, that they can do lots of things at the same time. I don't think you need to be hugely intelligent to be a good actor. Acting is about intuition and having the right instincts to get inside the character. But these boys set themselves higher standards and that undoubtedly helps."
Certainly it did at the Edinburgh Festival, where the KCS company won an unprecedented four consecutive five-star reviews in the golden years of Abdalla, Winckler et al. Swan still stays in touch with the Year of 99, recently visiting Cairo, where Abdalla is working on a small independent film. He is even planning a reunion of sorts to mark his retirement at the end of this year. "I've been here long enough," he says philosophically. "It will be tricky, missing the contact and all the work we've done. But I don't think it will end and if I can get them together again, I will." He laughs. "One or two of them will even be happy to have something to do."

Tom Basden, comedian/writer
"I don't think I had any idea what I wanted to do at school but the opportunity to do so much on stage was probably what got me interested in this side of things. I remember writing the school pantomime so I must have had an interest in comedy even back then. Philip Swan is a brilliant drama teacher and got the best out of people."

Alex Winckler, film director/writer
"Why have so many people of the same age from the same place gone into the field and excelled? It's a lot to do with the way Philip Swan treated us as actors. He expected unusually high standards from you and from 14 or 15, we were comparing ourselves with professional performers. How bloody lucky were we to have a school like that? It's no small part of our success."

Khalid Abdalla, actor/producer
"Without Philip, I wouldn't have become an actor. He gave us a kind of momentum that's still with us today. Philip created a culture of theatre and performance at school which gave shape to what we thought about each other, each other's work, and what we love about the performing arts. I learnt so much from Philip, and in a way I still am. I have moments when I think back to a rehearsal we had, a performance, a conversation about a play. They were formative years."

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