It is such a privilege to perform in spaces where history was made. Nearly 500 years ago the pages of Tyndale's Bible were burnt on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral, as King Henry VIII opposed such an idea of a bible translation in English. Ironically St Paul's Cathedral now holds one of the only three remaining Tyndale Bible's in the world dating from 1520. Today Scene Change Theatre worked with a school from Tower Hamlets. We slightly modified our performance to add volume to our scenes by creating "chorus responses" from the children. Amie Buhari my colleague created a scene with 30 of the children to show what life was like on the Jacobean streets of London. The Children peformed Shakespeare in chorus "To be or not to be? that is the question...," and "Alas poor Yoric I knew him well!", They sang "Ring a Ring a Roses" to remind us all of the bubonic plague rife in London at this time and became street traders selling all kinds of foods such as, Jellied Eel, salted Cod and hot coddling (baked apple). Not a a lot has changed! We worked with 60 children in all
with 30 from year 6 and 30 from year 3. We decided from the start to mix everybody up and it was great to see in the performance how the children worked together and the age gap didn't notice. The play finishes with "Oh When the Saints come marching in" and all the children fill the stage playing trumpets, Saxophones, double bases and cymbals. It was a great moment to see all these young people, who may have never been to a Cathedral before, dancing and becoming part of a jazz band in the middle of St Paul's Cathedral. A great image some 500 hundred years after Tyndale's pages had been burnt. Who'd have thought it! King's Quest will visit Gloucester Cathedral next on March 10th. Check out more photo's from the day.