|
History ensemble member Nick Asbury on going back to school and thoroughly enjoying it...
Back to school
On Monday I went back to school.
 It's always an unnerving experience as whenever I go into a school I always smell the unmistakable whiff of overcooked stale vegetables whether it's there or not. It wasn't there this time and what greeted me were two fantastic pieces of theatre. I'd been asked by Sarah Talbot, the new Head of Drama at King Edward's School - the school Shakespeare went to and just round the back of The Courtyard Theatre itself - to see two pieces. One was by the Year 10 boys of her school and the other was by the Year 10 girls of their sister school The Shottery School for Girls. They had been to see our production and these were two short pieces in response to Henry V.
Well, they were fantastic. Absolutely brilliant. The girls went first and produced a beautiful female response to war, with images of death and destruction, creeping murmur and loss played out with their collective shapes all just on the school gym floor. At the end, each performer had given one end of a red ribbon to one central girl standing on a chair, hands out Christonacross-like, whilst the other end stretched, Maypole like, to their bodies lying dead upon the ground. Beautiful and really effective at the same time.
The boys then produced a classic male response to war, with some fantastic fighting. As fight captain on these shows I can honestly say there were some brilliant and faintly alarming bits of stage fighting there. But there was exceptional storytelling here too and their responses at the end as all died on the stage whilst calling names of famous battles through the ages was very moving. What was so great to me as an actor trying every night to communicate words to an audience was how well they obviously understood the lines and the whole play. It was a real joy and a gratification to see. These guys knew what they were doing. And they understood the power of language - what it is they are actually saying. I said as much afterwards when I said a few words and got them to clap each other again. They deserved it. A few beaming parents were there, and for some reason, I felt as proud as they were.
It was our night off that night so the whole experience deserved a couple or three in the Duck, by way of celebration. Even both Heads of Drama from both schools came and had a small glass. I take my hat off to them. Or rather, raise my glass. I couldn't do what they do, day in day out. Their commitment and joy to their subject and the kids they teach is so strong. And they're obviously good at their job. They are brilliant. And the smell of stale vegetables in school has been banished forever from my mind. Phew.
 Respond to Nick's blog
|
|
Latest blog posts
- Listen. Time passes. Listen.
- I feel alive
- Things happen to you
- Sleeping on ladders
- Battle of Barnet
- Buckets of blood
- Hamming
- Three and a half weeks
- Letting go
- Unforgettable
- Lighting grids
- A new stage
- Gloriously
- The men in black
- Really listening
- Making history
- Happy birthday!
- Bleeeuurghhh!
- Dead weight
- Card sharks
- Tomorrow I scalded myself with tea
- You stink
- Turning to slush
- The threshold point
- Holidays!
- All change
- Strange things in the bath
- Back to school
- Corpsing
Other blog posts
About blogger Nick
Likes: Cricket and music. Fields and dark pubs with no music
Dislikes: Lager, crowded streets and light bars with music |
