Pupils had the opportunity to see QE boys acting in Hamlet, fresh from their successful appearance in this year’s Shakespeare Schools Festival.
The 23-strong team of actors, crew and other assistants staged the abridged version of the play at lunchtime in the last week of term.
It followed their festival performance at the Arts Depot in Finchley, where QE performed the famous tragedy back-to-back with 30-minute performances of Shakespeare plays chosen by other local schools.
Shakespeare Schools Festival is the UK’s largest youth drama festival, offering pupils from all backgrounds the opportunity to perform Shakespeare on their local professional stage in front of a paying audience. The festival works with over 150 theatres from Aberdeen to Jersey, Cardiff to Newcastle. Its patrons include Kevin Spacey, Lord Puttnam, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Tom Stoppard.
QE’s Hamlet was directed by Year 13 pupils Directors Paavan Sawjani and Sahil Handa, together with Technical Director Shiras Patel. The production involved seven other Year 13 boys, as well as eight from Year 11 and five from Year 10.