Year 12 Classical Civilisation Drama Workshop

It was an outstanding morning for the first sea-swimming session of the year. It was cold, and this was the first acclimatisation session for everyone. The atmosphere was added to by a saxophonist nearby who played as the girls entered into the calm waters! The sea reflected the rising sun like a mirror – it was great!

On Thursday 20 April, Mark Katz, from the Actors of Dionysus, came to Roedean to deliver a workshop for those studying Classical Civilisation in Year 12. The workshop dealt with the three selected plays the pupils have studied for their Greek Theatre module: Oedipus the King, the Bacchae, and the Frogs.

They warmed up with some cameo impersonations of the hero, Heracles, before designing freeze frames to represent different themes within the plays. By the end of the workshop, they had staged their own performances of different scenes from the plays – one of a part of the epic ‘poetry contest’ between the playwrights, Aeschylus and Euripides, in the Frogs, and one of a crucial moment from the Bacchae when the Bacchant Agave discovers that she has torn her own son Pentheus to shreds, in a moment of untold bloodlust.

Thank you to Mr Katz for delivering a workshop, which brought the plays to life so vividly and which got us thinking about the three dramas in lots of new and interesting ways!

Mr Barber