Midsummer Night's Dream Spectacular
Posted on Thursday 10 April 2008
Students from the College and the Henry Tyndale Special School mount a novel production of Shakespea
Coppers reinterpret Shakespeare
Students from Henry Tyndale Special School and Farnborough Sixth Form College staged a magnificent but slightly unusual production of A Midsummer’s Night Dream before a packed audience of parents and friends in the College’s Prospect Theatre last week. The production was the culmination of the term’s joint activities between the College and the post-16 unit of Henry Tyndale School based in Fleet, known as Coppers.
The play was written by the College students who went through the story of Shakespeare’s great comedy with the Coppers’ students, explaining the plot and asking for their interpretations. Jennifer Platten, 18, of Woking who is studying English, French, Spanish and Psychology at the College, and Kayleigh Everson, 18 , of Aldershot, (Maths, Further maths, Accounting and Psychology) took responsibility for the script. Jennifer said, “The Coppers’ students thought that Shakespeare’s names were a bit long and old-fashioned so in our play Titania became Tina and Oberon became Ron!”.
Each of the Coppers students wore a brightly coloured kaftan or a costume of their own from home that they thought their character might wear. They were supported on stage by college students dressed in theatrical black.
The production incorporated dances made up by the Coppers students themselves with the help of College students Katharine Piddington, 17, of Fleet, and A level dance student Alex Stocker, 18, of Bracknell. Ingrid Chiu, 17, of Cove, was in charge of the props.
Lauren Ellis, 17, of Farnborough, a second year student at the College master-minded the production along with 18 year old Natalie Hallifax, of Aldershot, as part of the enrichment activities in the College. She said, “It was a bit scary as we came towards the day of the production because so many things could go wrong – but everybody was magnificent and the show was a great success”.
Congratulating the students from both the Henry Tyndale Coppers unit and the College after the performance, College Principal, Dr John Guy, said, “This production was magnificent and you all carried it off like true professionals with minimal assistance from teachers at the College. We are in awe of what you have achieved this evening”.
Headteacher of Henry Tyndale School, Rob Thompson, told the audience, “This was the fourth year of the joint productions between the school and the college, and we are indebted to the commitment and dedication of the teachers who oversaw the preparations”.
