This year, we hosted our first ever Shakespearian Gala here at Whitehall. The children had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of Shakespeare, focusing on one of Shakespeare’s notable pieces of work, The Tempest. Not only did we delve into the gripping plot and explore Shakespeare’s poetic use of language, but we also linked it to modern-day society and considered the intricacies of the many themes interwoven in The Tempest, such as power, colonialism and autonomy.
Shakespeare was celebrated throughout the school and The Tempest was discussed at length with the children as young as Year 1 all the way up to our Year 6s. Year 1 and Year 2 focussed on the unkind treatment of Caliban by Prospero and the ethics around slavery and who has the right to own land and its people, making indirect links to the treatment of natives in colonised places all around the world. In KS2, Year 3 had the opportunity to write their very own soliquays, and Year 4 delved into the themes of poressions, power, control and freedom, performing their own extracts from the play to deeper their understanding. Year 5 analysed the main characters from The Tempest and wrote their own diary entries, allowing them the opportunity to put themselves in the minds of the key characters and understand their perspectives and therefore the consequences of their actions.
One of the most exciting events of the week came from our Year 6s, who put on their very own performance of The Tempest. The children had auditioned back in the summer and had been practising hard to perfect their show before performing it as part of the Shakespeare Schools Festival. Like true professionals, they performed to a huge audience at The Source Theatre in Stratford on Thursday evening, at a ticketed event. The audience and the Shakespeare Schools team were blown away by the children’s seamless conviction of the show and their insightful portrayal of such a complex play. In addition to this show, the children put on a performance in the school hall to round off our celebrations for the week. We invited all members of our community to join us to watch their production; we were delighted to see so many people there showing their support. It was an exciting opportunity to watch a truly compelling rendition of one of the great works of Shakespeare and the turnout really highlighted the amount of enthusiasm that the children across the school had shown for the Shakespearian Gala.