The large man in the pink turban asked us if we’d heard the one about Julius Caesar and the Smarties. We hadn’t. “Et tu, Brute? Ate three, JC.”
Then a bunch of kids broke out in a knife fight and an ambitious deputy head was told by a crowd of tarty dinner ladies that he would be head teacher hereafter. The greatest was behind, though the man in the pink turban had a fairly big one, too.
The occasion was an amazing day of celebrating Shakespeare in Schools at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon. And the pink headgear wallah, our compere, was Hardeep Singh Kohli, the Glaswegian Sikh stand-up comedian, television personality and foodie who, it turns out, is a complete Shakespeare nut because of an English teacher he once had at school.
Turns out, too, that Hardeep has known Michelle Gomez, the brilliant Scottish actress playing Kate in The Taming of the Shrew this season, for over twenty years. She was as gobsmacked as the rest of us at some of the stuff we were watching.
This included the above street rumble after a rapping party (Romeo and Juliet); a talent opportunity for workmen on the Jeremy Kyle Show (A Midsummer Night’s Dream); media-fed celebrity frenzy before more street fights and delusions of power (Julius Caesar); and the offending head teacher sacked for fiddling the exam results (Macbeth).
We see lots of Shakespeare productions transformed or undermined by directors’ concepts, but when kids find ways of possessing the Bard’s plays — or key elements in them — within their own experience, the results can be truly revelatory. And very moving.
I’d be hard pressed to nominate a better production of Henry V than Michael Boyd’s in the RSC history plays cycle this year. But the Fred Longworth Performing Arts College from Atherton, near Manchester, ran it fairly close yesterday morning.
The college presented just twenty-five minutes of their hour-long version, giving earlier narrative prominence to the political marriage of the French princess to the conquering hero and miming the Siege of Harfleur and the arrows at Agincourt with painterly control.
The French lesson was hilarious, with a feisty Katherine accompanying her information on words for nails, neck and elbow with violent gestures of repudiation. One lot of witches in Macbeth from a posh school in Devon were dinner ladies, another lot from a primary school in Barnsley, disco dancing goths.
Boyd had said earlier that Shakespeare wrote plays, not literature, and that we don’t spend enough time celebrating the imaginative work that goes on in classrooms around the country.
At a buffet lunch in the Arden Thistle Hotel, he presented seven “pioneer” teachers with diploma certificates acquired on a course run by the RSC at Warwick University.
The work we saw on the Courtyard stage was the fruit of this three-year project and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the 175 students included not only a good number of tomorrow’s theatre professionals and ticket-buyers, but also Boyd’s own successor.
One hopes they didn’t pick up too many bad habits from watching Conall Morrison’s crude and badly acted version of The Shrew later in the evening. Gomez is fine, but everyone else is either too old or too boring, and the opening attempt to frame the Italianate story in a red light district as well as the huntsman’s lodge is a narrative catastrophe.
Still, it was a famous sun-drenched day by the Avon, even if the looming shell of the remains of the big theatre strike my soul with melancholy and depression every time I look.
Great post sir! I like you post.
Hi there, simply became aware of your weblog through Google, and located that it’s truly informative. I am going to be careful for brussels. I will be grateful in case you continue this in future. Lots of people will probably be benefited from your writing. Cheers!
Pingback: 1921 morgan silver dollar mint mark
Pingback: 1884 silver dollar
Pingback: Smart Shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond
Pingback: Scholarships For Minorities North Carolina
Pingback: carl ken
Pingback: Abortion Methods
Pingback: acetoxime hearing armadilla
Pingback: Great Clips Coupons Printable 2010
Pingback: hid conversion kit
Pingback: Great Clips Coupons South Carolina
Pingback: adult social network
Pingback: Property Management
Pingback: Thrustmaster Warthog
Pingback: rebounding basketball drills
Pingback: Chloe
Pingback: best tampa fl dui attorneys
Pingback: click for more info
Pingback: telecom
Pingback: Minority Women Scholarships
Pingback: 中古相機
Pingback: paintless dent repair forum
Pingback: Sofa delivery
Pingback: average cost of rhinoplasty
Pingback: All About Great Clips Coupons!
Pingback: ??撘??芸?
Pingback: Flex Seal review
Pingback: air purification
Pingback: How are Promo Codes Different to Great Clips Coupons
Pingback: criminal lawyers in Fort Myers fl
Pingback: dui lawyers sarasota
Pingback: criminal lawyer in tampa
Pingback: Carlota
Pingback: workout for six pack abs
Pingback: best dui attorney Jacksonville
Pingback: Swiffer Coupons - Various Methods to Find the Printable Swiffer Coupons Coupons
Pingback: Swiffer Wet Jet coupons - The Way to Go
Pingback: vocal lessons
Pingback: Cisco Router
Pingback: Cisco Router
Pingback: All About Swiffer Coupons!
Pingback: Cisco Router
Pingback: Sell Cisco
Pingback: click here
Pingback: Swiffer Coupons- A Way to become Millionaire
Pingback: Sell Cisco
Pingback: Tires for Sale
Pingback: social security disability application online
Pingback: Sell Cisco
Pingback: Bakersfield DUI Lawyer
Pingback: seo agencies
Pingback: Sell Cisco
Pingback: Criminal Defense Lawyer
Pingback: emoticons for facebook
Pingback: California Criminal Defense Attorney
Pingback: Make Room To Stock Up On Swiffer Wet Jet coupons
Pingback: Tampa DUI attorney
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: homes for sale in Quincy MA
Pingback: phone detective review
Pingback: the phone detective
Pingback: ignacio perez de vargas estepona
Pingback: Red Bottom Shoes
Pingback: Red Bottom Shoes
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: escort Roma
Pingback: nursing schools in new york
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: best whey protein for men 2011
Pingback: jailbreak iphone 4
Pingback: how to jailbreak iphone
Pingback: how to unlock iphone 3gs
Pingback: http://www.withoutthestress.com/member/120887
Pingback: iphone unlock
Pingback: unlocking iphone help
Pingback: unlock iphone 4 info
Pingback: iphone unlock
Pingback: tv for pc
Pingback: personal injury claims advice
Pingback: online solicitation of a minor
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: Proofreading documents online
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: criminal lawyer Fort Myers
Pingback: Spanish learning course
Pingback: facebook mobile
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: la maison des travaux franchise fee
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: casque audio sans fil
Pingback: plancha electrique
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: climatiseur mobile split
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: Online
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: Save money on Grocery Shopping
Pingback: acnezine 6 month supply
Pingback: buy marijuana
Pingback: Baby Changing Table
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: AV installation Las Vegas
Pingback: international brides
Pingback: parc bébé pas cher
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: Buy Cisco
Pingback: Sell Cisco
Pingback: Sell Cisco
Pingback: Sell Cisco
Pingback: credit building credit cards
Pingback: Sell Cisco
Pingback: Click!
Pingback: plus size clothing stores
Pingback: Sell Cisco
Pingback: Sell Cisco
Pingback: buy Phentramin-d
Pingback: free solar panels
Pingback: electrolysis hair removal electrolysis chest hair removal prep
Pingback: Sell Cisco
Pingback: more information here
Pingback: Sell Cisco
Pingback: i have the number for a land number i need a name
Pingback: Server
Pingback: Sell Cisco
Pingback: Click Here
Pingback: jaketsleather
Pingback: Istanbul Medyum
Pingback: drunk driving Miami lawyers
Pingback: postcard printing online order
Pingback: www.spellcheckonline.com
Pingback: San Diego dui defense lawyers
Pingback: best dui San Diego attorneys
Pingback: games biz
Pingback: breast actives
Pingback: Cheap DJ Equipment for Sale
Pingback: football
Pingback: Hot Tubs
Pingback: click here
Pingback: casque sans fil tv
Pingback: calling 1300 numbers
Pingback: game
Pingback: flyttefirma
Pingback: nursing schools in san antonio texas
Pingback: used towers
Pingback: http://www.machineabiere.net/
Pingback: http://www.glaciereelectrique.fr/
Pingback: Best Los Angeles auto accident lawyers
Pingback: Links
Pingback: tower on wheels
Pingback: ps3 console zellers
Pingback: We Buy Gold Scam
Pingback: camescope hd sony
Pingback: Junk Silver Coin Bags
Pingback: http://www.whiteceramicwatches.net/
Pingback: epilateur electrique
Pingback: backyard swimming pools
Pingback: no no
Pingback: scott greenlaw sierra madre
Pingback: no no hair removal
Pingback: http://www.diigo.com/user/curtispetter1230
Pingback: http://www.diigo.com/user/kaiscrowell410
Pingback: rechtsschutzversicherung vergleich vermieter
Pingback: http://www.funandsafedriving.com/mapquest-driving-directions.html
Pingback: http://www.friteusesanshuile.net/
Pingback: http://www.rasoirelectrique.org/
Pingback: http://www.montregps.org/
Pingback: mini lave vaisselle pas cher
Pingback: Links
Pingback: mujeres article
Pingback: http://www.disquedurinterne.net/
Pingback: My Blog
Pingback: web design
Pingback: mujeres
Pingback: link to this article
Pingback: http://www.piscineautoportante.net/
Pingback: My Blog