For the past four weeks, we have been working around the theme of Act It Out in school. Students have been experiencing the power of acting and role play to explore the content of lessons in new and interesting ways. Some examples include: performing scenes from Shakespeare, creating and presenting monologues in character, acting out sequences in computer processing, inventing characters and improvisation in Czech lessons, creating public service adverts in MFL lessons, acting out the sequence of events leading up to the French revolution and more!
One of the biggest events we organised was an English and History trip to the theatre to experience a production of ‘Gramaphone’.
In the intimate theatre of Divadlo MA, all of Y8 were plunged into darkness. The silence was broken by the sound of a child’s voice singing songs about the Yiddish alphabet with his mother. Just like that, we were transported to those harrowing years of World War 2 and the persecution experienced by Jews at that time. On stage, the horrific experiences of the heroine were juxtaposed with flashbacks to her innocent young son. This truly was an experience to remember and a reminder of the power theatre has to communicate emotion and important stories.