ALL the world’s a stage.
And that certainly proved the case for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s artistic director Michael Boyd as he swapped the famous stage in Stratford-upon-Avon for a school hall in Birmingham.
Michael found himself taking the morning assembly at Queensbridge School in Moseley after swapping places for the day with head teacher Tim Boyes.
And while Michael sat in on lessons, attended staff meetings and carried out gate duty, Tim was getting to grips with the famous theatre company, including watching rehearsals for the RSC’s next production, Twelfth Night.
The ‘job swap’ was one of four exchanges between head teachers and directors of cultural organisations in order for the two sectors to better understand and appreciate each other.
It also built on links between the RSC and Queensbridge, which is a specialist arts college.
The school is in the second year of a three-year partnership with the RSC in order to boost the work of Shakespeare.
Michael, who also observed theatre and English lessons and took part in staff meetings, said: “It’s brilliant and inspirational.
“I think I expected it to be a bit madder, coming from a world of sophisticated adults to one of mental teenagers, but I’ve found they are sophisticated teenagers.
“My punishment was starting at 8.30am and Tim’s is finishing at 11.30pm as we tend to work later in the theatre.
“Our working lives might seem quite different on the face of it, but actually I suspect we have very similar ambitions and concerns.
“Neither of us can do much damage to our respective worlds in a day, and my hope is that we’ll both come away much richer and wiser from the experience.”
Tim enjoyed a tour of the site of the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre and its workshops, and also watched the first preview performance of Twelfth Night.
He said: “Leading a school that specialises in the arts, I can’t imagine a better place to learn from than the RSC.
“If schools are going to be places of inspiration, places that transform lives, it makes sense that we learn from the cultural sector at its very best, and ideally develop clever ways of learning more from growing such relationships.”
