14th June, 2017
Year 12 student, Julia Conley, is in the publicity team for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and she spoke with the Director of the play about selecting the script and context for this year’s Senior School production;
Head of Drama at Girton Grammar, Mr Nicholas Pease, decided that for Girton’s 2017 Senior School Production, he wanted to tackle a play written by one of the world’s greatest playwrights, William Shakespeare.
“Ever since I started teaching, I’ve wanted to direct one of Shakespeare’s plays,” he said.
Mr Pease said that he chose A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the current Year 12 cohort in mind.
“Apart from the poetic language, the play offers comic moments and plenty of physicality for the students to work with. It’s a challenge but the students are doing a great job.
“This play gives Girton performers a lot of opportunities to try out their comedic skills, but experiment with some deeper dramatic moments,” he said.
The shift in setting for Girton’s take on the play, from Ancient Greece to New York City in the 1920’s, was something that Mr Pease decided on with his Year 12 Theatre Studies class.
“It is important that the students stamp their own signature on the plays that they perform so that they take complete ownership of it.
“The students loved the idea of taking a play that is over 400 years old and transporting it to a time and place that had its own very distinct style and culture.
“I have much admiration for the energy, ideas and enthusiasm that has come from all the students involved in this year’s production and I can’t wait for the curtain to rise on the Capital Theatre next week.
“Performing Shakespeare also ties in well with curriculum at the school,” Mr Pease said.
Girton Grammar has five Shakespeare texts on its current curriculum book list: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night and Macbeth
Mr Pease with students at the publicity photo shoot
Mr Pease in rehearsal mode
