Mrs Horton (Drama Teacher)

Working from a series of Mafia-inspired workshops, this term saw Year 9 develop their powerful and captivating interpretation of Queen Lear as set in the beautiful landscape of rural Sicily. The students worked collaboratively on everything from creating character to costume design, and the final result was a gory and gripping performance from the actors, supported with professionalism by the Year 9 Theatre Crew who ran the show backstage.

Tackling what is undoubtedly a challenging piece of theatre under normal circumstances, felt even more of an achievement during the current restrictions as cast and crew worked to support each other through social distancing, self-isolations and creating convincing performances wearing masks when unable to see each other’s facial expressions.

Reflecting on the experience here is what the cast had to say:

Lily Kotecki and Franny Isherwood said: “We liked seeing how all our efforts came together - from starting the workshops, learning lines, to creating the end performance. It was cool to see how it all came together.” 

Tireni Salako said: “I found it really fun to get to work with people who I would not normally get to work with, and to spend time building stronger relationships with people I am already friends with.”

It was inspiring to see how the students came together during the process, developing an incredibly strong ensemble, to create such a strong belief in an imagined world which led the audience to be swept along and believe in their world too. The cast and crew should feel incredibly proud of the fantastic production they created!

Queen Lear will be available to watch before the end of term for ages 13+.

View photos from the production HERE.