When Sarah Finch, an accomplished Shakespearean actress who has taken her workshops everywhere from Cuba to Sicily, visited Brampton College last month, the Bard came alive in the most unexpected ways. GCSE and A level students didn’t just read Shakespeare; they hurled Elizabethan insults at each other (and at Sarah!) with great gusto. Nothing bonds a group quite like calling someone a “beetle-headed, flap-eared knave” in perfect iambic pentameter!
After the laughter, students rolled up their sleeves and brought Macbeth to life, stalking the classroom with murderous ambition. A level students went even deeper, using drama techniques to unpack Claudius’ slippery instructions in Hamlet, because nothing says “fun” like analysing royal deceit through performance.
Some students even wove this experience into their personal statements, proving that Shakespeare isn’t just for exams – it’s for life.
PS: Sarah is also currently touring her one-woman show, based on the life of Etty Hillesum, (the Dutch Jewish author of confessional letters and diaries which describe both her religious awakening and the persecutions of Jewish people during the German occupation).
