This past April, a group of twenty students with three faculty members, spent their April break across the ocean in London. They were there from Saturday, April 18 through Saturday, April 25.
The focus of the trip was learning about different theaters, theater during Shakespeare’s time, and the history of theater. For this reason, all of the attendees were from Feehan’s very own theater company. The faculty chaperones were theater director, Mrs. Strunin, music director, Mrs. Seals, and vice principal of student life, Mr. Grant.
At the beginning of their trip, they spent two days in Stratford-Upon Avon. Here, they visited Windsor Castle, had a guided tour of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and a walking tour of Shakespeare’s birthplace. They also saw their first of three shows, “Driftwood.”
They traveled to London on Tuesday, April 21, and spent the rest of the week in the city. While in the city, they had a walking tour of the Westminster area, visited Westminster Abbey, participated in mass at Westminster Cathedral, visited Tower of London, had a backstage tour of the Royal National Theatre, and enjoyed a River Thames Evening Cruise.
On Wednesday, April 22, they learned the choreography of and how to sing a song from Wicked in a West End theatre workshop taught by professional actors. Also on Wednesday, they attended a performance of “Hercules” on the West End. On Thursday, the travelers attended a Lively Action workshop at the Globe Theatre, where they learned about costumes from Shakespeare’s time, and participated in a practical drama workshop. They also visited Borough Market for lunch and enjoyed a River Thames Evening Cruise.
On Friday, April 24, the students spent the day at the Chigwell School’s theater department which is run by one of Mrs. Strunin’s former students. Here, they participated in warm-up games, and got a tour of the campus. They saw their last theater performance which was “My Neighbor Totoro” on Friday in the West End. Saturday was their travel day home, however, the group experienced some flight complications which meant that only a small group of them could go home on Saturday. The rest had to stay in London for an extra day, and fly home on Sunday instead.
All of the students expressed their love of learning about the old theaters, and how visiting the Tower of London was one of their favorite parts. They loved the freedom specifically at the Tower of London, and learning about Bloody Tower and Anne Boleyn, one of the six wives of Henry VIII as mentioned in “Six: The Musical.” The travelers also enjoyed all the free time they got for lunch and in between attractions and loved how they were able to explore places like Borough Market that lent itself to small group exploration, rather than a bigger tour group.
All in all, every student and teacher who went on the trip had nothing but good things to say about their experiences. Even though towards the end of the trip everyone was ready to come home, everyone also said they would happily return to London and relive those memories.
