At 6am on a chilly spring morning, a small group of Year 5 girls piled into a minibus and set off on a literary adventure to London. First things first – breakfast! Food always tastes better on a trip and pains au chocolat proved a popular choice. The journey flew by amidst chatter and excitement, and everyone was soon pressing their noses to the windows to spot the London landmark: “There’s Harrods! Buckingham Palace! Look at Big Ben! Is that the Shard over there? Oh, here’s The Globe!”
Invited by the GDST to join a Shakespeare Day exploring A Winter’s Tale, our activities started with a fascinating display of the intricacies of authentic Elizabethan tailoring, which included symbolic colours and layers of garments which were rarely washed!
Next came a sword fight demonstration, which Ida loved best about the day: “It was fun to learn about the different weapons, from broadswords to daggers and rapiers. The historical detail was really interesting – and the trickery involved in the actual fight was intriguing.”
Practical workshops followed, with girls working in a mix with other GDST schools, a special aspect of the day. Telling a story a word at a time, as a group, had hilariously creative outcomes, as we found ourselves in Japan, eating LOTS of sandwiches, travelling to America and swapping sandwiches for rabbits – ew! A series of freeze frames saw Audrey take the lead, using different levels to communicate a sense of narrative progression.
In the afternoon, we were treated to a remarkable one-woman performance of A Winter’s Tale in the Sam Wannamaker Playhouse. The actor used physical and visual storytelling techniques to re-imagine Shakespeare’s play, a style of theatre which India loved: “It was clever how the actor used scarves to become different people and things in the story.”
Our immersion in the world of the play was heightened by audience participation. Freya was delighted to join in with the group singing of pop-style Bohemia and classical Sicilia anthems to denote a sense of place, and Emmie was really engaged by the use of direct address.
We were all ready for a rest when the minibus returned to take us home. Our day had been jam-packed with activities, ideas and information designed to stretch the girls’ understanding of the world of Shakespeare and his plays. We loved every minute!