Head's Newsletter 11 February 2022

CLASSICS TALK BY ESTEEMED CLASSICIST

ENGLISH TRIP TO HAMLET

One Friday in January, Tiffin Classics had the opportunity to watch a live talk by esteemed classicist Professor Mary Beard. Professor Beard has long been a champion of Classics in schools and seems to have enjoyed the opportunity to appear, albeit virtually, before our students via Google meet. In the absence of any trips recently due to covid, the session was a great opportunity for our students to hear someone external speak about Classics. The talk was attended by years 11 - 13; Classicists and members of Tiffin ’ s FemSoc. Professor Beard tackling topics such as the enduring appeal of Rome and its relevance to modern politics, Cicero's consulship, and a feminist interpretation of Euripides' Bacchae.

Tuesday, 1 st Feb, the English cohort went to see Hamlet at the Sam Wanamaker playhouse. We somehow managed to all get there on time, and when we arrived it proved to be a great experience. The staging was amazing, and it was an interesting interpretation of the text that completely subverted my expectations of it. It seemed to have helped a lot of people start to gain an understanding of the plot too, although a first watch of a Shakespeare play is always a little confusing! The company did the text justice, mixing older traditions like candlelight staging with more modern elements such as the costumes and graffiti, which I thought was cool too. Overall, we had a great trip, and I'm excited to start studying the text :) (Nina Thyr)