King’s Quest Finishes tour at George Greens Secondary School, Tower Hamlets.
The King’s Quest finished last Tuesday at George Greens School on the Isle of Dogs. It was our first venture this term into a secondary school and working with year 8. We rehearsed the play with 70 children who at the beginning of the process wanted to stay cool and not give too much away, but by the end were visibly more confident with a number of impressive performances. The object of this project is presented in the opening scene. Four naughty children have been sent to the library to find a book they can read from cover to cover, that will challenge and inspire them. As they mess up the books in the library, one book starts to call out to them. As they pull the book from its shelf, a person springs out with the book. At the end of the play we find out that this character is a king and possibly King James or perhaps God himself. He expresses his quest in life throughout the play. For people to open his book, read what’s in it and be changed. We certainly saw a transformation in individuals in the way the performed at the end of the school day. But we have also seen how this project has impacted the wider community in the schools we have been into. Many have used the play as a spring board to delve further into the material and history of The King James bible. George Greens School will be doing just that in the New Year so we may be able to get hold of some of their follow up work to show on the Scene Change website. All that is left is to wish you the reader and all the 11 schools we have visited on this Westhill funded project a Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year.
