At the beginning of Year 6’s recent performance of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there are two important reminders for the audience. First, that love doesn’t run smoothly. And second, that this play is a comedy. And so the stage was set for the remainder of the production; a madcap exploration of enchantment and folly that marked Year 6’s first foray into bringing Shakespeare to the stage. In addition to the familiar story of the chaos and confusion of love, there were some wonderfully unexpected moments as well, including the mischievous Puck as a Mission: Impossible-type spy, and a sword fight scene set to the Rocky III theme music. The pupils’ enjoyment of the material was evident, with Mr Fletcher noting in his concluding remarks that ‘it was good to see them entering into the comedy and slinging insults at one another.’ (Take note pupils, this will probably be the first and last time that Mr Fletcher approves of such a thing.) Bravo to the class for their excellent performances, to Mrs Watkins for her hard work in preparing and directing them, and special thanks to Mrs Eldridge for stepping in to run the lighting at the last moment. Each of the pupils and teachers involved worked together to create a delightfully fun evening. 

Nearly 400 years to the day since the publication of William Shakespeare’s First Folio, Year 8 gave a brilliant performance of his famous play The Tempest to a packed house at Panton Hall. As Mrs Burden noted, this is Shakespeare’s most musical play and in keeping with the playwright, who used popular songs of his day, the Year 8 pupils used songs by Madonna, Taylor Swift, Stormzy and Nat King Cole in this production, adapted to beautifully help tell the story.

Prospero, the true Duke of Milan, has been overthrown in a conspiracy and set adrift to die but instead came ashore on a magical island. In the play we see what happens when he is faced with the choice to exact revenge or forgive his enemies. The pupils not only learned the difficult dialogue impeccably well—an impressive feat on its own—but did so with expressive and perceptive acting, captivating musical performances, including stunning solos, and production elements that kept even the children in the audience entertained. There were so many brilliant moments, from hilarious scenes between the very tipsy Trinculo and Stefano with the crocodile-like beast Caliban to a very moving adaptation of Stormzy’s gospel song ‘Blinded by Your Grace’ which underpinned the idea of the beauty and power of forgiveness, and many more in between.

Congratulations to Year 8 for this tremendous conclusion to their weeks of hard work, to Mrs Burden whose exuberant direction inspired each of the pupils to give their best performances, to Mrs Lowe for her beautiful musical direction, and Miss Innes for the wonderful lighting that helped the stage come alive.