Private School News

Cavendish School visit The Globe Theatre

It was a gloriously warm and sunny day for our visit to the Globe Theatre. Year 5 have been studying Elizabethan England, its theatres and the period’s most famous playwright, William Shakespeare. So it was with much excitement and anticipation that we set off, armed with our sunhats and sunscreen, to tour this wonderful replica theatre, take part in a workshop on A Midsummer Night’s Dream before seeing the Globe’s production of the play in the afternoon.

It was very exciting to be taken into the theatre for our tour only to discover that the cast were in the middle of a rehearsal! They were rehearsing their entrances and exits with the musicians in the gallery above the stage. The director and musical director were giving instructions,
stopping and starting the players to ensure that we would have the best possible performance that afternoon.

Valentine, our workshop leader, then took us to a building, on the site of the original Rose Theatre and just a few metres from the Globe, to workshop the play. The room contained a replica Elizabethan stage and the girls did
some warm up exercises before acting out some of the more memorable lines and events of the play on the replica stage. Everyone worked very hard, all listening and concentrating carefully.

After a picnic lunch by the Thames in the sunshine, we returned to the Globe for the real performance. What a
difference to see the same actors and musicians we had seen in rehearsal all dressed in their magnificent costumes and performing to a packed theatre! The performance was lively and hugely entertaining. Above the pit an enormous orb represented the moon and it was not difficult to imagine we were in a magical land of forest mists, fairies and potions. Puck, the mischievous fairy appeared from the roof of the stage whist the actors regularly ran in and out of the audience.

It was an excellent day. Thank you to the girls for their exemplary behaviour and to Mrs Thomas and accompanying parents, Ms Ford and Mrs Randall-Cutler. Now we look forward to Year 5’s own ‘production’ of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Assembly later this term.