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8 MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES / CLASSICS
Lysistrata
Elise Crooks and Katie Challoner, L6S
On Wednesday 7 February, a group of Classics students
led by Mrs Baker and Mrs Coyne, travelled to the Shaw
Theatre in London to see Aristophanes’
Lysistrata
,
performed by the UCL Drama Society and the Department
of Greek and Latin. They present a Classical play in English
translation each February which is approximately the same
time as the
Lenaia
, an ancient Athenian dramatic festival.
This play has become the best known, most read and most staged of
Aristophanes’ eleven surviving plays, and is arguably the favourite Greek
drama. It has also been the foundation of many anti-war movements.
Reflecting in a light-hearted manner - albeit with serious undertones -
the political situation of the time, more specifically the Peloponnesian
war between Sparta and Athens, the play shows how the women from
both areas attempt to end the war through the non-violent method
of abstinence from intercourse with the men. Overall, it was very
entertaining; the jokes were well received, indeed Mrs Baker could be
seen (and heard) to be thoroughly enjoying the play! Furthermore, we
all enjoyed seeing the strong female leads in contrast to the typical male
protagonists which are found in a majority of plays. In the style of many
Ancient Greek plays it involved much singing and dancing, adding to
the lighthearted atmosphere, without detracting from the seriousness
of the underlying message. This performance of
Lysistrata
was almost
completely managed by students from UCL with help from staff, which is
quite astonishing considering the scale of the task.
The play provided a great opportunity not only to enjoy live acting of a
highly acclaimed ancient work, but also to reflect on the relevance of the
play to our lives. Although civilisation has vastly changed, we have retained
a remarkably similar ability to appreciate the same humour as people living
over 2000 years ago, proving we may share more in common with the
Ancient Greeks than we care to admit.
Building A Greek
Temple
Marisol Rojas, L4N
Last term, I was assigned
a task to designmy
own Greek temple for
my Classical Civilisation homework. We had a
couple of weeks to complete it, which gave me
the idea of doing something quite challenging: a
3D design of a Greek temple for Apollo. I paired
up with Constance Ding who drew neat plans
of the inside and sketched them into full detail
while I made the outside in 3D.
The main structure of the temple was made from
packaging from Christmas presents and papier
mache. I started off by using a box for the base and
I folded cardboard to create stairs, papier mache-ing
it all afterwards. For the columns, I stuck corrugated
cardboard around cardboard rolls that were left from
wrapping paper to represent the engraved ‘dips’. I
decided to make ionic columns so for the ‘scrolls’ I
used corrugated card, again, rolled on either side of
the column. The scene on the pediment is made of
purely papier mache. I painted everything white to
make it look minimalistic and clean.
This task challenged me but also showed me what
you’re able to do if you put a lot of effort into
something. I impressed myself and learnt more about
the architecture of Greek temples.
U4 German Exchange
David Nana, U4S & Dami Ogundiya, U4N
On 9 March, nine U4 pupils waited
outside the tower anticipating the
arrival of our German exchange
partners. For many of us, it wasn’t
the first time conversing with our
exchange partners since we had
taken the opportunity to get to
know them beforehand via text. As
soon as they got off the coach, we
all determined that the upcoming
week would be a week to remember.
Instantly, we greeted them and their
excitement shone through their
beaming smiles; we could tell they
were as buoyant as we were. East
House Family Evening was that night
and a few of us decided to take our
exchanges there, showing them a
taste of Bancroft’s culture. But for
the rest of us, it was an early sleep as
we prepared ourselves for what was
to be a “wicked weekend”.
So where should we all spend our first day with
our exchanges? Westfield! On Saturday we met
up at Westfield and all had lunch together (a
classic British burger). The rest of the afternoon
was spent exploring Westfield, as we went
for a brisk walk around the Olympic Park, and
shopping, of course. Before we left, we all had
a game of bowling where some of us scored
strikes, and some of us scored nil! It was an
enjoyable night when we all got to know each.
West House Family Evening was the final event
some of us decided to attend. What amazed us
wasn’t the performance (although we all had
a wonderful time), but rather the fact that our
exchanges were laughing at some “very” British
jokes indeed. Foreign students laughing at
British jokes? It left many of us with our mouths
wide open.
On Sunday, although everyone was meant to
enjoy time alone with their exchanges and
family almost everyone ended up in central
London, where we bumped into or narrowly
missed each other.
During the week, the exchanges mostly went
sightseeing during school time, though their
presence was highly sought after by other
students, due to their friendly and polite
nature. Many parents allowed all eighteen of
us to socialise under their roofs after school,
and with everyone made spontaneous plans
to go to restaurants, trampoline parks, and
roller skating.
The week flew by quickly, and everyone
dreaded their final day in London, so much
that many exchanges promised to hide
themselves in luggage or in our houses and to
visit us any time they came to England. Their
penultimate day in London was eventful to say
the least, with many tears, hugs and goodbyes
shared in our final moments together.
The whole exchange was an excellent
experience, opening up several strong
friendships between the people on the
exchange and even with other Bancroft’s
students, so I can say on behalf of the whole
exchange that we can’t wait to visit them in
Germany. Thank you to Ms Abbott and the staff
of the German school for arranging this visit.