Love,
Laughter
and Last
Rites
by Verity
ClarkT
he English Society's year
terminated with an enjoyable
evening of recitals, which took
the audience on a journey
through the ages of literature.
With very little time for
rehearsal, the event promised much
spontaneity and the pupils did not disappoint!
The format was a bit like the Mediaeval
Mystery Plays, with promenade performances
on the theme of Love, Laughter and Last Rites,
with different casts performing at different
settings around the school which were
appropriate to the pieces; and so it was on a
warm summer's evening that parents, pupils
and teachers embarked on a Magical Mystery
Literary History Tour.
The first performance of the night was from
Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf,
the only piece of American literature in the
programme, staged in the pavilion; Olivia
Feilden's and Owen Griffiths' convincing acting
set a high standard for the rest of the evening.
The audience was then ushered to the lawn
where the school's resident chickens played a
vital role in adding to the ambience of a carefullyselected
extract from Lady Chatterley's Lover.
The group then moved to the Chapel, where
they were seated and treated to a variety of
recitals from Eliot, Tennyson and Malory; the
performance of Murder in the Chapel altered
the mood of the evening, with robes and
swords adding to the eeriness of the venue.
Olly Jones brought the tension to new heights
with an extremely compelling death.
The evening culminated in the Memorial
Quadrangle where offerings from Shakespeare,
Chaucer and Wycherley were performed; the
impromptu use of a wonky moustache in The
Country Wife caused much hilarity. The final
performances took the audience back towards
the very start of English Literature with a
comical performance of the Mechanicals' Play
from A Midsummer Night's Dream, where the
costumes were superb, Jodie Burrows pulled
off being a heel-wearing brick wall, and the
various attempts at a West Country accent
added to the authenticity.
The evening ended with a group read-off, pupils
against parents, of an extract from Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales, the masterpiece of Mediaeval
English Poetry. This allowed scope for more
West Country accent practice, and the parents
were the convincing winners.
The evening was a literary enlightenment for
everyone, with all participants putting in their
best efforts, including the audience who were
forced to join in. Thanks to all the English staff
for organising such a successful event.
Aluredian
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