Friday Headlines
the weekly newsletter from EHS
Drama students perform at Shakespeare Schools Festival
22 November 2019
Following two months of rehearsals, twenty Year 10 GCSE Drama students performed a unique adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’ at the Midlands Arts Centre as part of the Shakespeare Schools Festival.
The festival is a national event that encourages young people to take ownership of one play and to own both the language and staging of what can feel, at first, a difficult obstacle.
The students were given the opportunity to put forward their own ideas in relation to both how the play would sound as well as look. In true EHS spirit, the girls rose to the challenge with well-choreographed physical sequences as well as handling the complex choral speaking moments.
As well as performing at the Festival, the girls took part in a preparation workshop where they paired up with a local primary school, being facilitated by the Shakespeare Foundation to act as mentor and role model with the younger performers. This was extended to the performance night, being paired with another primary school to support their performances of The Tempest and Hamlet.
For some of us, some of the simplest staging moments can often be the most striking and effective. The Shakespeare Schools Foundation and members of the audience commented that two moments would ‘stick in my mind for some time’; the unique use of ribbon to create Caesar’s demise and the final moment where the two classes became a theatrical ensemble in the true sense of the word.
I am often humbled by the resilience and dedication that the girls show when they strive to create artistic work that they own. Well done to all involved.
Mr Lane
Head of Drama and Theatre Studies
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