End of Term London Trip
Last weekend, some of our pupils along with Mr and Mrs Russell headed to London for a few days of fun, creativity, and sight seeing. Read about some of their exploits here.
The Tate
A visit to The Tate Modern was on the itinerary for Saturday! The building is pretty spectacular and the entrance housed a giant hanging sculpture made from textiles representing jellyfish. We were greeted in the Learning Room and our pupils were given interactive sketchbooks and pencils along with maps of the gallery. There was some really amazing art to find including a couple of Picassos and a Matisse. Some of the mixed-media art was particularly impressive! It certainly inspired our budding artists!
Some favourites were the tower of radios in the ‘Media Networks’ exposition (Cildo Meireles) which demonstrated how artists in Tate’s collection have responded to the impact of mass media. The Pop Art room was also a huge hit! We were also all mesmerised by a film in ‘Start Display’ of ants clearing up glitter after a music festival.
There were also some great immersive and creative experiences including ‘Tate Draw’ where students saw their digital artwork projected on a gallery wall! They also participated (along with Mr. Russell) in the ‘Create Wall’ showcasing some of SDC’s amazing artistic talent.
The Tempest at The Globe
Our final stop before returning home was an exciting visit to Shakespeare’s Globe to watch ‘The Tempest’.
One of the most impactful and longest-running cultural education projects in the UK, Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank is now in its seventeenth year and is The Globe’s flagship project for secondary students. ‘Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank’ sees Shakespeare’s plays adapted into fast-paced productions with young people in mind.
We were fortunate enough to watch this year’s production of ‘The Tempest’. Despite being written more than 400 years ago, its themes are still as relevant today. We watched a 90-minute adaption of this magical tale of love, revenge, and forgiveness. It was a fantastic introduction to Shakespeare and live theatre, enabling our year 8 and 9 students to get to grips with the play’s complex language, characters, and themes.
The characters interacted wonderfully with their young audience. Huge hats off to Bea Svistunenko who played both Miranda and the jester! Her jester (Trinculo) was hilarious and kept us all thoroughly entertained! It was also wonderful to see Ariel fly out of the heavenly trap door - one of the most famous features of The Globe stage.
A massive thanks to The Globe Theatre staff for arranging our school tickets and to the Old Davideans Association for funding the ticket cost. It was a very worthwhile experience for our young learners.
