Year 8 Trip To The Globe Theatre

Despite the very British weather, that saw persistent rain punctuated by intermittent heavy rain, spirits remained undampened in an action-packed day for the Y8 pupils. After a tour of The Globe and an energetic, fast-paced workshop run by one of the theatre’s actors in which they re-created the Athenian Forest and declared undying love, they watched ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ – the play they have been introduced to in the classroom – explode onto the stage.

Asked for a 5 minute response, Daniel Possener (Year 8 pupil) offered the following thoughts:

From the controversial new director of The Globe, who wants Shakespeare to be as exciting as ‘The Archers’ came forth an ‘interesting’ interpretation of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.
The play had very much strayed from the traditional rendition with actors breaking out into song – Beyoncé’s Single Ladies (Put a ring on it) to David Bowie’s Space Oddity – and some more adult-orientated jokes catching some of the audience off guard. What was very appealing was the audience participation, spontaneous jokes and staging amongst ‘the groundlings’. This coupled with the gender orientation and ethnicity neutral casting certainly added a very modern twist to the much-loved traditional classic.