The Lost Words: Told in Gold

In the Autumn term last year, theatre director and voice coach Collette Murray-Payne (Class of 1991) came into School to support the Joint Upper School Julie Power - as the enchanting Barn Owl production of Clockwork with voice and text work for the cast. During this time, she and Naomi Lord (Class of 1998); Director of Creative Learning and Partnerships in the Boys’ Division) discussed bringing Collette’s adaptation of The Lost Words, by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, to the School’s woodlands. The pair had a shared loved of the book and very similar ideas about what creative learning means in an environment like Bolton School. “Originally commissioned by Wild Rumpus and the National Forest, the production had been in enforced hibernation since March 2020, until The Lost Words: Told in Gold was recommissioned by Bolton School in Spring 2022, supported by a successful Arts Council England grant. It seemed fitting to me that this production, about love of language and reigniting care for the environment, should return to the source of much formative patterning in my life and creative habits. “As a school girl, I was quite chatty, opinionated and, I suspect, a little disruptive. I wasn’t particularly academic – I did fine, but was never an Oxbridge candidate. However, it was in the rich calendar of events and rituals of School that I found my joy. The concerts, the speakers and Pete Williamson - as aviator The Heron speeches, ESB, the Christmas Post, the Duke of Edinburgh weekend expeditions and netball tournaments all offered me the opportunity to be part of teams that stuck together in a common goal – as I still try today to achieve in the casts of actors and crews that I create.

“But most of all I loved the Ceremony of Carols. Alongside the challenging programmes that the musical SWAT team of Mrs Long and Mr Blisset worked so tirelessly to drill into us, I admired Mrs Johnston’s annual job of getting the whole School to practise walking into the Great Hall over the duration of the first carol to sit down in a gentle ‘swish’. Her determination for accuracy of execution in this created a very theatrical and atmospheric moment. This, coupled with Mrs Fisher and Mrs Cole’s angels, set the service off with elegance and majesty. I know Mrs Johnston’s practice sessions bored some of my friends senseless, but, for me, they were an early experience of the dedication it takes to create events that excite and move audiences.

“I remember, in particular, my first Christmas at School hearing Sixth Former Beth Allen (Class of 1986) sing the coveted Once In Royal David’s City solo at the beginning of the carol service. I made it a private and secret mission to sing that solo when I got to Upper Sixth. From then on, I was in all the choirs that School could throw at me. Each Christmas, I got a step closer, but the personal stakes got higher. As I said earlier, I was a chatter-box, so it probably wasn’t as secret as I remember. Certainly, my friend Carolyn Pointon (née Bond, 1981-1991), who is still a dear friend today, was my cheerleader. So, alongside a dozen or so peers, I nervously auditioned for Mr Blisset as he sat with his back turned, like an early 90s version of The Voice. Reader … I sang it. “Life in Bolton School gave me a determination to make things happen for myself. I think my chattiness and lack of fear of voicing my opinion was tolerated by the staff as they felt I was building, albeit haphazardly, my own sense of fairness and pragmatism. I remember being in the Sixth Form and having an indignant row with Mrs Smalley about my use of a tin-opener without permission – an early foray into the art of rhetorical discourse! This has been invaluable professionally in bringing new pieces of work to life. In my later life, working at universities, I have been accused of, in my advocacy of students, being a ‘difficult woman’, but I now understand that life in the Girls’ Division was all about learning to be women who stood up for what they believed. So, I wear the difficult woman badge with pride – the difficulty is in them, not me. “I was very inspired by a number of teachers – particularly Mrs Kershaw who recognised my desire to speak aloud as a skill. In English classes, I never really relished the idea of analysing Shakespeare’s texts as an academic exercise; however, given the chance get up and speak these amazing, resonant words and I’d come into my own, feeling the physical effect of the vowels and consonants as they found their meaning on utterance over the tongue. Mrs Kershaw gave me the bridge that connected the academic and the practical. She offered me the why and how of language, and the ‘what if …?’ “And now, in one guise or another, that’s pretty much what I do for a living. “Equally, over the years, I have thanked Mrs Fisher aloud for her insight and creative integrity. Whenever I get stuck in rehearsal with creating a mise-en-scène, I try to channel Mrs Fisher in her lessons on the Golden Ratio – and she always comes up trumps for me. “School gave the space to learn that things that I want happen by my own efforts, determination, ingenuity and creativity. So it’s no surprise that I’ve spent my professional working life creating events in theatre and preparing people to speak at their own events. “It was this sense of creative integrity and discussion about creative learning that I found in Naomi Lord and her invaluable role at School and the reason I wanted to awaken The Lost Words in Bolton School’s grounds. I am hoping that it will be the beginning of a new chapter in my relationship with School when I can be part of the legacy of developing the creative spirits of the girls and boys who pass through it. “Sometimes, as I’m approaching making a new piece of work, I still have a recurring dream of Dr Brown chasing me around the B corridor for an RS essay I haven’t handed in. And I’m shouting over my shoulder: 'But I left School 30 years ago, I’ve got two degrees and I’ve finished loads of other things since …', as she gains on me – you see, I’m ever the dramatic!”

Khagen Douglas - as breaking The Raven The cast of 'The Lost Words: Told In Gold' Beech House pupils were enraptured by the performance