Shakespeare Shorts

"Last week marked the end of many things at school. One being the open air Shakespeare Shorts produced by Year 7,8, 9 and 10 over this last term."

"After lockdown Mr Hewer and I were determined to produce a performance as we felt, with the wonderful school grounds, we had all the open space and fresh air we needed to do so. It was also my last chance to direct here at Sidcot, and I’d always wanted the opportunity to do something in an outdoor setting so we set about finding our scripts. Mr Hewer manipulated two 10 minute Shakespeare scripts of Macbeth and Hamlet for the Year 9 and 10 bubble and he edited and ruthlessly cut down Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Year 7 and 8 bubble into a 45 minute show."

"One holiday of planning and a term of rehearsals later 37 students have performed in three Shakespeare shows during a Pandemic - who would have believed it? I have been so impressed with the dedication and collaborative learning that has taken place during this project. There has been a huge sense of community and drive throughout the process and overall a real sense of wanting to do something purposeful and be creative."

Philippa Bell
Director of Drama

A Midsummer Nights Dream

Cast

Hamlet and Macbeth

Cast - Hamlet

Cast - Macbeth

Huge thanks to the staff and ‘people backstage’ involved in this project as the results have been stunning. Mrs Ralph and Millie Baltzer of Lower Sixth deserve acclaim for their wonderful vision for costumes for Midsummer Night’s Dream - Millie actually reworking an old period costume I found from scratch to create Titania’s beautiful costume and Oberon’s coordinating one. Mrs Ralph’s lovely apron’s for the Mechanicals worked a treat and the fairies tie dying looked brilliant. Thanks goes to the Key Stage Three Drama students who also created the Lion’s costume and Titania’s blanket and the Year 11 Drama students who patiently went through all of the costumes in stock to put together period character pieces for ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Macbeth’ and painted masks for the witches.  Filming has been of major importance for us during this year and true to form, Mr Darvill, has worked for hours to get our version of Midsummer Night’s Dream just right. Mr Reed came to our rescue with Mr Hewer’s back to back shows of ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Macbeth’ and filmed both expertly. Thank you to both for without them, we wouldn’t have a performance for the families of those students who have worked so hard.

Although we were obviously disappointed like everyone else that we weren’t able to invite an audience to watch the Drama live we have been so impressed with our young students who have brought Shakespeare’s language to life. All the casts showed strong ensemble playing and a real understanding of plot, character, language and rhythm. Special mention must be given to Joshua Came as Hamlet who showed real sensitivity in his portrayal of the Dane and Sebastian Dermers-King, who within his first year at the school showed such a commanding presence as Oberon. Sofia Radford as a strong and wilful Titania was excellent and Annie Brophy and Nancy Lyons were tailor made to play the warring Hermia and Helena against their fiesty counterparts, Isaac Stacey (Demetrius) and Finn Painter (Lysander). Noya Sawyer, Edith Hogg, Jazz Darby, Felix Hamilton, Darcy Williams Wring and Jayden punctuated the performances with excellent ensemble playing and overall the performances presented proclaim loud and clearly that there is a real sense of talented individuals coming up through the school that will ensure excellent dramatic productions of the future.

Phillippa Bell & Dave Hewer