Year 8 Trip to the RSC
On Thursday pupils in Year 8 visited the Royal Shakespeare Company to see As You Like It and participate in an educational workshop. Directed by Kimberley Sykes, the bright and riotous production offered pupils a colourful, entertaining and vivid introduction to the Forest of Arden and the world of play that they are currently studying in their drama lessons.
Prior to the production pupils took the opportunity to take part in a workshop designed to give them a deeper understanding of the text and provide playful ways to help unlock Shakespeare’s language. Strong connections were made between the rehearsal rooms of the RSC and the classrooms and studios in which our pupils work, enabling them to explore the same engaging techniques and approaches used by the RSC to cultivate a deep understanding of the text and to get the language ‘in the body!’
Cicely Berry RSC Voice Director, said, “You do not understand Shakespeare fully […] until you have spoken the text aloud […]. This is because there is something in the physicality of the language […] which is not only an intrinsic part of the rhythm and form of the writing, but also of the underlying motive and reasoning of the characters involved. And I believe young people of whatever academic ability […], given the right opportunity to speak the language, latch on to this in a remarkable way and I know it excites them and makes them want more.”
Prior to the production pupils took the opportunity to take part in a workshop designed to give them a deeper understanding of the text and provide playful ways to help unlock Shakespeare’s language. Strong connections were made between the rehearsal rooms of the RSC and the classrooms and studios in which our pupils work, enabling them to explore the same engaging techniques and approaches used by the RSC to cultivate a deep understanding of the text and to get the language ‘in the body!’
Cicely Berry RSC Voice Director, said, “You do not understand Shakespeare fully […] until you have spoken the text aloud […]. This is because there is something in the physicality of the language […] which is not only an intrinsic part of the rhythm and form of the writing, but also of the underlying motive and reasoning of the characters involved. And I believe young people of whatever academic ability […], given the right opportunity to speak the language, latch on to this in a remarkable way and I know it excites them and makes them want more.”
