English Students visit Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot
Recently, a group of English students across all three year groups visited the Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot, where they were given the opportunity to view the current exhibition on Shakespeare's first Folio and to see 400-year-old Grenville Folio, currently on loan from the British Library. They then toured the Playhouse, including the performance garden, finishing up in the magical reproduction Cockpit theatre where they workshopped ideas about original performance and staging.
Second year student, Rhiannon Henderson, who is taking ENGL213 'Drama 1580-1640', said:
'The trip to the Shakespeare North Playhouse was enlightening to say the least. Whilst drama workshops and seminars are informative, there are just some experiences that can't be taught on campus. One of these is experiencing performance places in person. Upon entering the cockpit auditorium, we got to experience firsthand the impressive oak structure that Elizabethan and Jacobean audiences would have frequented. This not only gave us a new understanding of the space, but also made way for new queries about how it could be used to its full potential. The trip was informative, structured, and most of all fun".
Dr Esme Miskimmin, who organised the visit, hopes that this will be the first of many student experiences at Shakespeare North: 'The Playhouse is an amazing resource for students studying drama modules, and we couldn't miss the opportunity to view the Folio'.
Students viewing the Ken Dodd Performance Garden
Emily Parr of Shakespeare North speaking about the Folio