EIGHTEEN King’s Ely Senior students enjoyed a trip to London’s British Museum on February 7th as part of their studies in Classical Civilization.
In the afternoon, the students also watched a UCL production of ‘Oedipus Rex’ at the Bloomsbury Theatre.
Head of Classics at King’s Ely Senior, Matthew Adams, said: “There was so much to see in the British Museum that it was difficult to know where to start! Several ‘must-sees’ on the list included the controversial Elgin Marbles, the Egyptian galleries and the Rosetta Stone. There were plenty of Greek and Roman antiquities for even the most grizzled enthusiasts to enjoy, but such is the breadth of the British Museum that the pupils found themselves exploring galleries from all over the world, from many different historical periods.
“The party took lunch in the green parks of Gordon Square, and the school pack-up kept out the worst of the February chill. The afternoon’s student-run production in the ever-welcoming Bloomsbury Theatre was a joy. The play opened with some powerful choreography from the chorus of plague-ridden citizens, setting the tone for Oedipus’ doomed descent into tragedy. The message was stark, Oedipus could not avoid his fate.
“The play was tremendous, a very physical theatre of dance, movement and song, with some great acting from all the UCL students, especially from the Corinthian shepherd who managed to inject a little humour into the tragedy. The final drama came when Oedipus – realising he had married his mother and fathered four children on her – gouged out his eyes, for looking on that which he should never have seen. It was a sober party that caught the train back home to Ely.”