Enough of Sport! Time for Culture!!

Date: Tuesday 14 October 2008

What a day Tuesday was, with FOUR separate and very different cultural experiences for our pupils from Lower Fifth tyros to the giants of the Upper Sixth.

Members of the English A-level classes had a unique opportunity to share the expertise of Dr Amina Alyal from the University of Leeds (Trinity and All Saints), whom Mr Dagley had invited to address the Literary Society. Dr Alyal arrived for a lunchtime seminar entitled 'Reading the Renaissance' and led the group through Elizabethan times, with particular emphasis on the language used by Marlowe and Shakespeare in 'Dr Faustus' and 'Othello' respectively. Very erudite - and with an excellent hand-out for the candidates.

In the early evening Music Scholars departed for the Cadogan Hall, and a concert by the RPO conducted by one Josep Caballe-Domenech. The 22 scholars - and ex-scholars, as they were joined by Jacob Barnes and Suzy Jackson, - thoroughly enjoyed the 'popular' programme of Mussorgsky, Bruch and Dvorak. They were impressed by the violin soloist, Lara St John, whose gown allegedly defied gravity in places, and the 'extreme triangulist' in the New World Symphony!

At the same time, Miss Hummerstone took another small party of physicists to a UKC lecture entitled 'A History of Radar until 1945'. Robert Brindle, Charlie Roe, Mr Bill Povey and Miss Hummerstone found the presentation 'heavy on history' but light on physics, and 'aimed at the silver-haired'. I should have gone!

The fourth expedition in search of culture found it at the Gulbenkian Theatre where a group of nearly 40 L5 and M5 Drama pupils enjoyed a programme entitled 'Cool Rules and Fams' given by No Love Productions. This was the group's first experience of an SES theatre outing, and they thoroughly enjoyed the two separate elements which, according to Miss Sears, depicted 'blackmailed youths in need of role models'. A small cast held the audience spellbound throughout.

And next? A lunchtime concert on Thursday at St Alphege's Church, as part of the Canterbury Festival. A full programme of nine items, starting at 1.00pm.