Senior School News

Shakespeare Day at Pickering College

Students from Grades 10 to 12 at Pickering College performed scenes from Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, King Lear, and Hamlet throughout the day. They were well-prepared and the audience was responsive and enthusiastic. One guest commented that he had expected to see an average high school English student performance but was pleasantly surprised to feel as though he were attending a play with real actors. It was clear that students had internalized the emotions of the characters and the themes of the plays in order to effectively communicate meaning to the audience through their scenes.

This year, students from French and Spanish classes also participated by performing two scenes. One scene was translated into French by teacher, Pina Viscomi, and one into Spanish, by student Ana Garrido. It was a challenge to perform in another language, but the students did phenomenally well.

During morning meeting Language teachers Dean Gessie, Pina Viscomi, Helen Coughlin, and Michelle O’Hara performed a scene from King Lear to kick off the day. Students were excited to see their teachers participate.

The emcee for the program, Grade 12 student Matt Dunlop entertained the audience in between acts with Shakespeare-related jokes and trivia. We learned that when Hamlet wanted to do a sketch of Ophelia, he wondered which kind of pencil to use: “2B or not 2B; that is the question!”

Submitted to PC Connects by Michelle O’Hara, Senior School faculty.