Auf Shakespeares Spuren in London
Der Englisch LK 13 (Schmitt) begab sich von Freitag, 31.8., bis Montag, 2.9.2019 auf Studienfahrt nach London um sich dort auf die Spurensuche nach dem wohl größten Schriftsteller des Landes zu begeben.
Und tatsächlich konnte der Kurs unter der fachkundigen Leitung von Niko Straßburg zahlreiche Orte besuchen, an denen Shakespeare wirkte oder an denen seiner gedacht wird. Wir fühlten uns zurückversetzt in vergangene Jahrhunderte beim Besuch des Leadenhall Markets, des Monuments und der London Bridge. Am Abend besuchten wir den Skygarden, von dessen Dachterrasse aus wir den Sonnenuntergang über London bewunderten.
Höhepunkt der Fahrt war sicherlich der Besuch des vorher im Unterricht erarbeiteten Theaterstücks „A Midsummer Night´s Dream“ im rekonstruierten „Globe Theatre“ am südlichen Ufer der Themse. Die Schauspieler lieferten ein Feuerwerk an Aktionen und trotz der Länge von ca. drei Stunden und der Tatsache, dass wir als „Groundlings“ die ganze Zeit stehen mussten, kam keine Langeweile auf. Wir waren beeindruckt, wie kreativ die Schauspieler mit der Textvorlage umgingen, wie sehr das Publikum mit eingebunden, und mit wieviel Witz und Kurzweil das Stück präsentiert wurde.
Nach dem Theaterbesuch wurde dann stilvoll im „Anchor“ die Umsetzung des Schauspiels diskutiert. Weitere Highlights der Fahrt waren Besuche im Museum of London, der National Portrait Gallery, des Covent Gardens, die Gänge entlang der Themse und natürlich auch die weltbekannten Sehenswürdigkeiten der Stadt wie der Buckingham Palace, das House of Parliament und das London Eye.
Nach drei sehr intensiven Tagen in London an denen wir insgesamt ca. 50km zu Fuß zurücklegten, kamen wir am Montagabend um 23.30h müde, aber um viele Erfahrungen reicher, wieder am GadA an.
And what the students say:
Our English class went on a field trip to London from Saturday, 31st August, to Monday, 2nd September and came back with lasting memories.
On Sunday evening we went to the Globe Theatre and watched William Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummer Night´s Dream”. To be honest, I personally did not expect anything great.
We were very tired after walking through London all day and as we knew, we had to stand for three hours at groundlings, some of us were not really euphoric to go to the Globe. I thought it would be very hard to stand during the play and it might be very boring to watch such an old play, but I was positively surprised after the musicians created a great atmosphere with their trumpets or trombones at the very beginning. I had fun watching the children, who were brought on stage out of the audience, to hitting the colorful piñata, while the musicians played their instruments.
I thought it was very funny that the actors took one of the groundlings on stage to play a role at the beginning of the play. This was an example of interaction with the audience, but they interacted with us, too. They jumped on and off the stage, talked to the audience and entered the stage from different places.
At the end of the play the actors celebrated a big party together with the audience, by dancing and singing popular songs - that was my favorite part and a great ending of the play.
To sum this comment up, we watched a very modern interpretation of the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and it was really fun to watch.
After our visit to the theatre we went to “The Anchor”, a famous pub next to the Globe to talk about the performance and to share our experiences. We really had an exciting day! (Svenja Hollingshauser)
Everybody knows Shakespeare but just a few people have actually read any of his plays. With our English class we started to read “A Midsummer Night´s Dream” and to visualize this play we flew to London and watched a performance at the Globe Theatre. On our flight to London we had concerns because we would have to stand for 3 hours during the performance. Besides that we expected an old-fashioned and boring play that was difficult to understand and follow. But as soon as the performance started, our doubts vanished. It began with a colourful and loud band which cheered us up. To our surprise, the play stayed colourful with the stage prop and costumes. The dialogues were still Early-Modern English as we expected, but there were many parts in modern English and interactions between the actors that made it easier to understand the play. The inclusion of music elements, like singing and dancing, loosened up the mood and made it more modern as well. With modern jokes the play differed from Shakespeare’s original version and it seemed more up to date and relevant for us today.
All in all I think that the play surpassed our expectations and we were positively surprised. The actors and writers who worked on the play were able to bring this old play into today’s world without making it feel like an exact copy of Shakespeare’s play, but more like a modern adaptation of it. (Hanna Schick)
