My Name is Ann …

BVC students wowed audience members at the annual Cambridge Schools Shakespeare Festival with their devised piece My Name is Ann.

GCSE students from Years 9&10 performed the piece which explored the relationship between Shakespeare and Ann Hathaway through a fusion of drama and dance.

Teacher Jude Shortt, who produced the performance alongside trainee teacher Amelia Bass, said: “Given that Shakespeare is credited at penning the greatest love story ever we wanted to explore the relationship between Shakespeare and Ann Hathaway. She was often cast as an illiterate, shrew who had seduced a younger man and made his life a misery. However, Ann’s epitaph indicates that she was a loving, pious mother.

“Our piece liberates Ann from the shadowy, negative figure that history has depicted her as and gives her a voice that is articulated through many of her of her husband’s sonnets and his musings and thoughts on love. It also includes lines from Carol Ann Duffy’s poem Hathaway.”

She added:”The students have been really dedicated and focused – they were all stars! They really were a credit to the school.”

The festival is organised each year by the Anglian Learning trust, of which BVC is a member, and is held in the Atrium theatre, Netherhall school, Cambridge.

The Bassingbourn students will be performing their piece again at the BVC Creative Arts Showcase on Thursday 10th July. The show starts at 7pm and tickets are available through WisePay.