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Year 5 Trip to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

Year 5 Trip to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

The annual Year 5 trip to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on Bankside is just part of the ‘Shakespeare Strand’ at Long Close. Each year we have a visit by the English Shakespeare Company in the Autumn Term for Years 5-7: a visit to The Globe for Year 5 and the study of the Bard’s plays in the senior part of the school and for GCSE we study ‘MacBeth’. It’s no secret I love Shakespeare, and particularly ‘The Globe’, it is a magical place. Shakespeare is a study for life and it seems to me that there is a play for every part of a person’s life; in my youth I loved the tragedies, I remember shortly after my father died watching Adrian Lester (now in ‘Hustle’) play Hamlet in Peter Brook’s production with not a dry eye in the Old Vic, now it is the comedies I love, but perhaps my favourite of all is ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream! Every time I see a play more is revealed and deeper the appreciation grows.

It is usually February when we organise the trip to the reconstructed Globe and this year was no exception. Year 5 pupils were naturally excited; clutching their lunch bags and full of enthusiasm for a day out in London. Trips are an enhanced learning experience; they bring to life a topic and communicate much more than a classroom experience ever can. It was particularly fun this year as I always enjoy any time I spend with Year 5, invariably they are a imaginative, engaging and chock full of character. On the bus drive there I was pleased to see that ‘Top Trump’ cards and card tricks in general had made a renaissance; anything that isn’t virtual pleases me.

On arrival at Bankside we all clambered off the bus and made our way down the steps to walk along the Thames. It really was bitterly cold; the wind cut the face and made the teeth ache! Thank goodness we had warm coats! The Globe reconstruction was the brainchild of the American actor Sam Wanamaker, a lover of Shakespeare, who visited London on holiday and was astonished to find that no memorial to The Globe Theatre (or to Shakespeare) existed in London. He then began his project to reconstruct the Globe – and the rest is history!

We stopped for a few photos on the way, but eventually ended up at the exhibition centre; this gives you an insight into Elizabethan times, the theatre and costumes. We were also fortunate as a sword fighting display was taking place and we were able to handle a sword and ask questions –I learnt that Henry the Eighth was 6ft 4 in height!

We left after twenty minutes to cross the Millennium Bridge over to St Paul’s; although icy cold the sky was clear and blue, visibility good and the river its usual hive of activity. The original Globe sat on the far side of the river because theatres were forbidden to exist inside the original city walls by the puritans who wielded power at the time. The Globe then originally sat amongst bear gardens, houses of ill-repute and the seamier side of town; I took Year 5 on a literal and imaginative journey through some of these streets, past the old jail ‘The Clink’ and to the facsimile of the Golden Hind.

It was then time for the Gift Shop (‘No fake blood, please.’) and then lunch time. Finally, our guide and drama practitioner Margo came to meet us. She gave us an excellent introduction to The Globe and then took us into the theatre itself. We learnt that the original theatre had been burnt down when a charge fired by the theatrical cannon had been, by accident, discharged into the roof! I will not attempt to describe the inside of the theatre; it really must be experienced directly, although the pictures I have posted give some insight. I would encourage you to attend; it is particularly resonant on a balmy summer’s evening with the moon in the centre of the open roof and the magic of Shakespeare’s words in the air ‘O for a Muse of Fire…’ There is no need of scenery for productions in The Globe because Shakespeare’s words create the pictures in the audience’s minds.

Next our ‘Romeo & Juliet’ drama workshop that began with warm-ups for body, voice and mind and was followed by a brief re-working of the play. This was great fun! Our little abridged reworking of the play was a fitting end to a lovely day. Finally, I must say I was very proud of Year 5, their behavior was exemplary and I hope they gained a little insight into Shakespeare and why his plays are so very special!

David Brazier

Head Teacher