When Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet it is unlikely that he ever imagined a cast of 55 children aged nine, ten, and eleven enacting his sixteen-part play so professionally. In the Prep School, however, challenge is to be embraced, and nothing is ever too difficult; a thirty-minute script was created in which our Year 6 pupils enacted the original Shakespearean text alongside newly created lines of iambic pentameter written especially for our Year 5 narrators.
The performance was a culmination of a full term’s intensive work to properly understand the complex language and Tudor times, before beginning to enact the play. The pupils’ astounding talent and hard work was made all the more dazzling by the exceptional costumes provided by Mrs Wilkinson and the lighting provided by Mrs Whitcombe. The production was directed superbly by Mrs Luckett who was ably assisted by Mrs Bassey.
The evening was a triumph and, most importantly, the pupils commented upon their new-found love and understanding of all things Shakespeare.