QE is to hold what is believed to be the School’s first-ever Shakespeare festival this term – and senior boys got into practice in a professionally-led workshop on Othello.
Boys from Years 10-13 will be performing the tragedy – which, with its themes of jealousy, race and passion, remains as popular as ever today – in the Shakespeare Schools Festival on 23rd February at the Arts Depot in Finchley.
The production will also form part of QE’s homegrown Shakespeare festival, along with a diverse programme of other activities, ranging from an academic lecture to an inter-House competition.
The afternoon workshop was run by Emma Howell of the Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation, which organises the national schools festival.
Assistant Head Crispin Bonham-Carter (Pupil Involvement) said: “Shakespeare was ten years old when QE was founded, making him an exact contemporary of the School’s very first intake of boys. It’s really exciting to be celebrating him by holding our own festival, which will include the Othello production.”
“Othello will also continue our strong record of participation in the Shakespeare Schools Festival. It is a source of great pride that, with our Year 9 production of Hamlet last academic year, we have kept this tradition alive during the pandemic. This year sees the older boys in Years 10–13 taking on the Bard.”
The play tells the story of an African general, Othello, in the 16th-century Venetian army who is tricked into suspecting his wife of adultery. Sexual jealousy and racial prejudice are among its leading motifs. In it, the sinister standard-bearer, Iago, manipulates Othello into a jealous rage, but all the while appears to warn his commander against the destructive emotion: “O beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on” – the first coinage of the term “green-eyed monster”. Other quotations from the play that have become the stuff of everyday speech include: “‘T’is neither here nor there” and “I will wear my heart upon my sleeve”.
As well as performances of Othello both at the Arts Depot and in School, the QE Shakespeare festival will include:
- The UCL Lord Northcliffe Chair of Modern English Literature, Professor John Mullan, delivering a lecture to senior pupils
- Year 8 boys in a Performing Shakespeare final, held in an X Factor-style format
- Short sonnet-based activities during form time
- A Shakespeare Treasure Hunt House competition
- Showings of National Theatre Shakespeare productions of Romeo and Juliet and The Winter’s Tale in English classes, for Years 7 and 9 respectively.
The Othello workshop began with boys learning some warm-up techniques employed in professional productions and receiving key advice on performing – tips such as: always entering and leaving the stage with a purpose and in character; using the front of the stage, and angling your body during dialogue so that you are engaging with the audience.
The pupils workshopped a section of the abridged production, with Emma Howell and QE’s resident theatre director, Gavin Malloy, then working with the cast on their positioning, movement and characterisation, in order to help build a dynamic piece.
“Emma was keen to get the boys thinking about their characters (even those without a name in the script, such as some of the soldiers learning that the war was over) – what motivates them in the scene, what their relationships were with other characters on stage, and how this could be expressed in their performances,” said Mr Bonham-Carter. “They also worked on having range in the delivery of their lines, differentiating between formal and informal speech.”
“It was a very collaborative process with which the boys seemed to be enthusiastically engaged.”
Thirty-two junior teams, including six from QE, took part in the North London Regional tournament, which QE hosted in the Shearly Hall.
“However, it was a double alliance involving QE teams which pushed things forward in game 12 and 13. Firstly, a tournament high 78 being posted by a combination of QE newcomers Shattersquad and MTS Myopians, followed up by an even more impressive 83 posted by QE’s Year 9 Nova team and NUAST Triceratops. It was clear from this point on that the bar had been raised, with MTS Myopians in particular impressing. QE’s Gearsquad, Nova, and Cyberforce seemed to be battling it out behind them for the highest rankings spots, albeit the latter team were already securely qualified.
“In the end, it had appeared that Gearsquad had posted an unassailable score: a whopping 110 alongside the HBS Vextreme team. However, as was the case throughout the day, it was the pairing of Nova and MTS who would have the last laugh, and their incredible 125 score secured both teams their Tournament Champion title. The judges gave MTS X_O_Limit the Judges Award, and the Design Award was secured by HBS Spark.
And in an online lecture given to boys at QE, Soma explained what had inspired her to set it up, namely her shock at realising that almost every girl she knew had suffered from some form of sexual assault whilst growing up.
“These are complex times for young people to be growing up in – whether it’s pandemics, culture wars or the challenges of social media, they seem almost bombarded. Yet this lecture felt like a very good way to end the year, with a positive atmosphere in the Shearly Hall as focused, sensitive young people listened intently to someone only a few years older than them,” Mr Bonham-Carter added.
All boys from Years 7–10 took part, with each form group representing a country, producing a short video and putting forward a delegate in the debates. These delegates fought their corner passionately, challenging each other’s records – although perhaps not always with the delicate diplomacy expected at a global summit!
Nations had been put into thematic groups – focusing on areas such as cities, forest, or oceans – and urged to discuss, to negotiate and to attempt to come to a joint decision. Each nation then had the opportunity to speak, with many focussing, on the one hand, on their own context – including their level of economic development and current pollution levels – and, on the other, making the case that their own climate targets (such as net zero carbon dates) were, in fact, ambitious.
“China’s delegate did, though, make a powerful argument that a significant proportion of China’s emissions were producing and exporting products being bought by those in other parts of the world (including the West), who were, in effect, therefore outsourcing their emissions.
“I feel national school campaigns on climate change awareness can be a big factor in the younger generation learning about what impacts they have on the climate and how they can help mitigate and stop climate change,” Toma told other members of the five-strong panel and the assembled audience in Glasgow.
Reflecting on his experience after returning to School, Toma said that being at COP 26 with delegates and leaders from around the world was “surreal”, but noted that there were “lots of different people with the same ambitions”. Asked about the prevailing mood, Toma said: “People were secretly optimistic, outwardly expecting the worst, but hoping for the best.”
At the palace, the boys learned about Tudor life and saw at first-hand evidence of the School’s own links with the Tudor monarchy. They also had the opportunity to see a special exhibition and art installation – on for this month only – featuring silhouetted figures of Sikh soldiers from the British Empire’s Indian Army.
“Our pupils were fascinated, too, by the carved wooden ceilings in the Great Hall, picturing to themselves Henry VIII sitting under them and also, a few decades later, performances there by Shakespeare’s own theatre company.
Braving the chilly weather, the QE groups enjoyed a walk around the park and formal gardens, during which they spied a herd of deer across a water feature to the rear of the palace.