Shakespeare at the Grange
Tonight I went to see Romeo and Juliet, a production of the Penny Lane Players, who are all homeschoolers from ranging in age from 7 -16 years. It is produced and directed by a homeschooling family in Stratford and I thought the performances were outstanding.
Firstly, it was the original script. Enough said.
Secondly, it is not often that I forget Shakespeare was written in old English! Maybe because it was children performing and I was constantly dumbfounded by the perfectly rendered, heartfelt monologues or maybe just because I know the play well…
Also the set was extremely simple. The costumes black and white representing the dueling families. It made you really focus in on the characters. I guess I have become used to the bells and whistles that accompany most performances these days. The sword fighting was effective and well choreographed. The children also made the music accompaniment on stage and organized the lighting.
There were even some very interesting highlights such as Mercutio and Tybalt’s duel on the violins before they acted out Tybalt’s death.
Chuckles loved it too and saw the effort the other homeschoolers had put into this production. She saw the 5 year olds rendering their lines effortlessly, which boosted her confidence. They looked like a great bunch of kids.
I hope they put on another performance next year. Hopefully Chuckles will give it a go.
