As part of their A level Drama and Theatre course, our Year 13 students have been exploring the work of Wales-based theatre maker Marc Rees.
His practice combines social investigation and archival research, delving into specific sites to uncover hidden histories. The facts, anecdotes, stories, images and characters he discovers are woven together to create rich, composite portraits of place, which audiences experience through immersive installations incorporating film, sound and live performance.
Drawing inspiration from the buildings, history and stories of Howell’s School, Llandaff, our students have been uncovering the untold stories of the school through photographs, records, diary entries and letters. With the support of our volunteer archivists, they were able to explore letters written by some of the first pupils at Howell’s, as well as the original school ledger recording each pupil’s name and the date she joined the school.
Before half term, the Year 13 students invited Year 5 pupils to take part in a special workshop in the Great Hall. Dressed in straw boaters and filing in solemnly, the girls were introduced to some of the original school rules and shown early photographs of pupils playing tennis and performing in school plays. They were then encouraged to create their own historical characters and write letters home in role as Howell’s pupils.
Some reflections from Year 5:
“I thought it was amazing that we got our letters stamped with one of the original Howell’s stamps!” – Agnes
“Altogether, I absolutely loved it, and I hope I will be like that one day.” – Ashley
“I enjoyed writing on paper that looked like it was from the time, and I loved pretending to be Ethel in my diary. I wrote about all of the pranks I had been up to whilst boarding at Howell’s!” – Celeste W
“We read a letter that a girl had actually written while boarding at Howell’s, and then we got to write our own letters. We had to make up our character names; I chose to be Harriet from the old school register. My letter was about a girl and the tricks and pranks that happened to her. It was so amazing to have that experience, and our letters even got stamped with the original Howell’s crest logo!” – Freya
“I think this was a five-star drama piece!” – Kaela
“It was great fun completing a quiz about the rules of Howell’s in 1860. I couldn’t believe that the girls could only wash their hair once every ten days and that they had to wash in cold water.” – Poppy
“I thought it was fascinating how Thomas Howell began the Howell’s legacy. I liked learning more about it!” – Salma
“We were invited by Year 13 to their presentation, ‘A History of Howell’s’. We put on straw boater hats and went into the Great Hall. We had to stand up and sing a song — it felt just like a real cathedral service! They talked to us about the old school rules, and we recreated scenes from old school photographs. It was so much fun.” – Vibha & Molly
The A Level students will draw on this experience as they devise their own original piece of theatre, which will be performed for the visiting examiner later this year.