Lower Sixth Attend the Lockdown Theatre

On Wednesday 20th May, Lower Sixth students studying the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, became some of the first students in the country to experience a lockdown school theatre trip. All patiently waiting until 7.00pm to press play and meet one another online, the group discussed The Barbershop Chronicles by Inua Ellams, as they watch the National Theatre from their homes.

The Barbershop Chronicles asks universal questions about identity and masculinity, an interesting foil to the work Lower Sixth have studying, looking at novels focused on women. The play also asked students to think about empire, the colonial experience, and consider how it affects people and literature to this day.

In conversation Ananya commented “[The play] shows how universal experiences can be and how colonialism still affects us.” Catherine replied, “and how between different cultures and generations the idea of what is acceptable changes.”

Head of English, Tom Rawlings, reflected “During the lockdown, theatre can be a powerful way of exploring our anxieties and putting our own difficulties in perspective. Sharing the experience is even more important now than it has ever been so we can sit together, apart, and know that we are all having the same experience, thinking about the same things and enjoying the wonder of art in its most visceral form.

To share theatre is to share the desire to find a common humanity and to connect with both those watching and those being watched. In a time of isolation, theatre and the arts can bring us together as one global community and help us to engage on multiple levels with our closest friends and our most distant neighbours.”