SENIOR SCHOOL

This year, Malvern St James was excited to be performing ‘The Comedy of Errors’ in the Shakespeare Schools’ Festival, at the Courtyard Theatre in Hereford. The cast of 16 have been frantically rehearsing since the beginning of term, learning their lines and getting to grips with the comedy of the play. They also used new techniques such as clowning and slapstick comedy, which they worked on with members of the National Youth Theatre, as well as professional Theatre Directors at the Festival Workshop.

 

To put the play together in just four weeks was a real challenge for the Year 10 group, but they were determined to succeed. The use of accents – from Somerset to Liverpool – gradually became consistent, the rhythm of the iambic pentameters became reliable and the instructions from the Theatre Director became more understandable, if quite difficult: “You are a beautiful group,” she said, “But to really bring out the comedy, you must demonstrate a willingness to ‘look ugly’!”

 

The Shakespeare Festival Critic at the end of the show was thrilled with MSJ’s contribution. He told us he had not made many notes, because he was laughing too much. “Any play which opens with a pop song and a limbo dance has got to be a winner!”