Friendship. Love. Marriage. Family. Gossip. These were just some of the themes we discussed during our week-long exploration of Much Ado About Nothing. As we worked our way through the play, we used our favourite scenes as inspiration for a set of painted glass coasters.
There’s lots that we’ll remember about the week, particularly the camaraderie that existed between the girls. Many began showing up at the Lyceum early to eat their lunch with those who were continuing from the morning camp.
The wide range of opinions in this camp was also fascinating. During one memorable conversation, Christianne asked the girls if they thought their parents should approve of the person they would marry. We were intrigued by how cautious they were in their answers. Most said their parents shouldn’t be involved, but then became a bit unsure. Katianne said she would ask her parents opinion because “They know about boyfriends and stuff.” Johanna said, “My parents say I can marry whoever I like as long as he’s a nice guy.”
During the week we also read Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale and The Whisperer by Nick Butterworth. The group quickly made connections between these works and Much Ado. They were particularly interested in the way Shakespeare used a staged death in both plays as a way to expose evil.
We’ve attached some photographs of the stunning coaster sets that the students worked on throughout the camp. The high level of artistic expression is remarkable. It was wonderful to watch Ceili surprise herself by her own abilities, quickly moving from stick figures to full-bodied characters. The entire group marveled at the way Mirella spread her paint so smoothly — it took a lot of convincing on her part before the group believed she hadn’t done glass painting before!
On the final day, each girl chose a line or two from the text to accompany her coasters and mounted these quotations on a wooden backing.
The grand finale of the camp was a trip to watch the play performed at Bard on the Beach. Seeing the characters we had come to know so well, and the lines we had fallen in love with brought to life was a fitting end to a wonderful week. Ceili said, “If you get confused about who is who, just listen for your favourite lines and then you’ll know who’s speaking!”