Theatreland

Day 5 – Friday 5 July

The final day and what a triumph! Our students used all the expertise they had learned in the week to welcome John Betts Primary School into Latymer and hosted a tightly controlled but fun and inspirational workshop for the Year 3 classes. There was laughter, competitiveness, energy and great fun in abundance. It was wonderful to witness the growth in confidence of our students and they should be proud of their achievement.

We rounded a marvellous week off with a fascinating architectural tour of The Barbican and a communal meal before settling down for a rousing and dramatic performance of the cult musical, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’. 

 A great and thoroughly enjoyable week.

Day 4 – Thursday 4 July

Today the Theatreland students actually got to practise their skills on Latymer Prep School’s Year 3s in preparation for tomorrow’s visit from John Betts Primary School. They rose to the challenge magnificently and were engaging, confident and skilful at managing younger children’s emotions such as the horror of ‘going out’ in a game. The Lyric Theatre looked on, mentored them and were fulsome in their praise of their efforts and maturity.

In the afternoon, we visited the Lyric Theatre to see a revival of Michael Frayn’s masterpiece or farcical theatre ‘Noises Off’. It originally premiered at the Lyric 40 years ago and has been given a new interpretation to critical acclaim. 

The effect was a belly aching laugh out loud experience and won the first standing ovation from our group.

Day 3 – Wednesday 3 July

A day of appreciating the genius of masters.

A morning spent at The Design Museum taking in the Kubrick exhibition and making us all want to explore this giant of cinema in more depth.

The afternoon was spent in the uproariously and exhilarating production at The Bridge of Midsummer Night’s Dream. Fantastic show, where two of our students became actively involved in the production by having their mobile phone taken from them and used on stage for a group selfie and one member of our group was swept up in the muscular arms of one of the Mechanicals! Truly interactive and immersive…

The evening ended with a personal talk from ‘Oberon’ actor Oliver Chris, who fielded questions from the group post performance.

Day 2 – Tuesday 2 July

Today we visited The Photographer’s Gallery for a workshop on Visual Literacy. We had a fascinating exploration of South American photo- journalism.

Next we walked over to The Royal Academy to take in the Felix Vallotton exhibition. Stunning and disturbing in his skewering of society’s hypocrisy.

To end the day, we caught an amazing production of Carmen at The Royal Opera House – modernist, stripped back and visually exciting.

Great to reconnect with London as a city in all its visual splendour as we walk around.

Day 1 – Monday 1 July

We had a great start to the week with an intensive training session in how to host a drama workshop, led by the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.

A stroll along the Southbank took us to the Hayward’s controversial exhibition of ‘Kiss My Genders’. There followed some lively debate about this fascinating show.

We watched a fantastic production of Peter Gynt at the National Theatre – brilliantly staged by Jonathan Kent and acted by James McArdle in the central role. Thought provoking, funny and moving.

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