Acclaim for The Critic

A gloriously dusk-lit Blenheim was the setting for the school's 'Enlightenment Evening of Home Theatricals' featuring R. B. Sheridan's The Critic. Fresh from a superb series of lectures given by sixth formers on the literature and events of 1775 (and all with no notes!), the parents, teachers and public were first romanced by ballad singers, delighted by authentic eighteenth-century traders selling fans and flowers, and drawn into the fierce debates between king and countryman in Blenheim's celebrated campaign rooms. They then took their seats in the Orangery, transformed for two evenings into a theatre.

The vision for an entire evening of home theatricals with meticulous attention to detail came from director Joanne Pearce, actress and associate artist of the RSC. Through their involvement in the project, the students were privileged to work with Adrian Noble, renowned director and former artistic director of the RSC, composer and actor Philip Pope, and Annie Gosney, former Production Manager at the Olivier Theatre at the National. Workshops in the run up to the production hosted actor Tim McInnerny and the UK's leading fight director Malcolm Ranson. Two and half months of work culminated in a riotous two evenings of music, histrionics and a rendition of 'Rule Britannia' never to be forgotten!