This term’s major theatrical production marked another step in the renaissance of drama at Queen Elizabeth’s School. Entitled All the World’s a Stage, the play was written at the School and was based around Jaques’ famous Seven Ages of Man speech from Shakespeare’s As You Like It.
It featured scenes with familiar titles, such as Oh! What a Lovely War, Just William, and The Importance of Being Earnest. “In order to bring these scenes together, we used the long history of Queen Elizabeth’s School to weave an imaginary debate between past students about which scene best represents one of the Ages of Man,” explained Co-ordinator of Drama, Elaine White. “The initial project and ideas came from me, but as we rehearsed, the boys came up with both improvised and scripted scenes.”
The connection with the School’s history was further emphasised by the projection of photographs of previous headmasters during the production itself and by a special presentation during the interval featuring photographs of old boys in QE drama productions of the past.
The current Headmaster, Neil Enright, congratulated Mrs White, her colleagues and the boys on their efforts. He added: “There is a long tradition of an annual play at the School and I am delighted that we have been able to strengthen this in the past couple of years. Last year’s production of The Tempest was a significant development, and I feel confident that All the World’s a Stage marked another step forward for drama at QE, not least because it was the first play to be staged in the Shearly Hall.”