Batten down the hatches! Storm Ciara is here and, since we last spoke, FTW has been Tempest tossed in Ipswich and Dreaming donkeys in Middlesbrough!
Richard and I have been off doing solo workshops in Clifford Road Primary, Ipswich and Viewley Hill Academy, Middlesbrough where the numbers were such that only one practitioner was required. Here at FINDING THE WILL we’re all about being as flexible as possible so that as many schools and children can be involved in the work we do. So when a school comes to us for a workshop with a smaller number of children participating, it is sometimes possible for us to send just one practitioner thereby cutting the cost a little. Another way to batten down the hatches in this stormy economic climate (see what I did there?)!
So two different plays, two different locations, two different months but oh so much in common! Let’s start with Clifford Road Primary. Towards the end of January I toddled off to Ipswich – I won’t lie, it’s a long way from Wiltshire – and had a lovely warm welcome back. You see, I went there in January 2019 for the first time, so it was great to be invited back for a second visit with two new Year 6 classes. What a lovely bunch of young people I met there. In the morning we all set sail on The Good Ship Dark Angel heading back to Italy from Africa. On the way of course we got caught in The Tempest and the story unfolded. Strangely enough we got caught again in the afternoon when we were on board The Good Ship Deep Blue Salthouse (interesting tongue twister that, trust me!). In both workshops there were some cracking performances and imaginative answers to questions. For example………
Presenter: Welcome Prospero, thank you for coming. Tell me what life is like on the island?
Prospero: I’ve not had a shower for 12 years! And Caliban’s not had one for 18 years!
Brilliant! Just the sort of ‘out of the box’ creativity we love here at FTW HQ! There was also some lovely stuff around the theme of forgiveness, and why it’s better to forgive than continually get revenge because if we fight all the time, no one wins. Out of the mouths of babes……………
And then just last week, thankfully prior to hatch battening , Richard headed north to Viewley Hill Academy in Middlesbrough. Again this was a second visit – he worked with Years 5 & 6 on Hamlet last year – and, like me, was warmly welcomed back. ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ could not be further from ‘Hamlet’ in many respects and is certainly no simpler! However, judging by the photos on Twitter, a good time was certainly had by all! https://twitter.com/ViewleyHill/status/1225167367547817986 And as in Ipswich, the Middlesbrough actors too posed some thought-provoking questions:
Does Egeus ever find true love?
Do changeling boys get older? Do they grow up?
Seriously academics and PHD students write papers on this sort of thing! If anyone has an answer by the way, feel free to share! So huge thanks to Mrs Steggle in Ipswich (it was lovely to meet you at last by the way) and Miss Bailey in Middlesbrough for making both of these delightful visits happen again this year. You know where we are and, Funding Gods permitting, we’d be thrilled to return to your lovely schools next winter.
Meanwhile we are heading back to Coventry next week for a week of ‘Macbeth’ with another of our favourite schools, St Bartholomew’s. I warn you, there’s going to be an awful lot of witches in this one…………so like I say, batten down the hatches, thunder, lightning, wind and rain is on its way – Storm Ciara eat your heart out………wahahahaha!!!
