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On Wednesday 3rd February at 10:15am , a very excited Year 7 gathered in the hall in preparation for their
journey to the hall of Camp Hill Boys who had kindly invited the year 7 and year 9 to view the Theatre in
Education production of the Middle Ages and ‘Doomed Youth’ a play about World War One.
The year 7 were treated to an hour long series of sketches which covered the myth of Robin Hood, the battle of
Hastings including a very long Bayeux Tapestry as well as King John and his wicked or not so wicked ways
depending on which characters you believed. Perhaps the most popular sketch was the Medicine sketch where
pupils were treated to some of the ‘cures’ that were common in the Middle Ages. The sight of an actor ‘drinking
his own urine’ in order to overcome the Black Death was only beaten in the yuck stakes by the actor playing the
doctor taking the glass and proceeding to drink from it as well, and seemingly enjoying it! Thankfully as the
pupils found out in the question and answer session afterwards it was only apple juice in the glass. The question
and answer session revealed some excellent Historians in the making, with questions about the structure of
medieval society and the church as well as some budding medics keen to find out more about medicine in the
Middle Ages. Credit should go to our year 7 pupils for their questions, which had the company impressed with
the year 7’s knowledge and inquisitiveness.
Year 9 pupils were equally enthused about the prospect of a theatre production on the First World War, which
many had just begun to study in class, as they made their way over to the Boys’ School in the afternoon. The
production took the form of a play about a group of Scientists in the future who had stumbled across a number of
artefacts which they knew nothing about. Fortunately they were helped by a machine which could ‘visualise’
events based on the artefacts. Pupils were treated to different periods of the First World War covering
conscription, life in the trenches, women at work, conscientious objectors and the ending of the war. As pupils
got to know the characters the production became at times humorous and also very moving as the horrors of the
war hit home on the stage. Once again pupils asked insightful and searching questions of the actors after the play
and left excited by what they had seen.
Thanks must go to all staff who helped supervise the event and to the History department at the Boys’ School for
inviting us to the production.
7Y and 9Z
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