“Petruchio, go thy ways; the field is won” said Hortensio, loud and clear with a wafture of his hand, not missing eye contact, his head held up high. And thus Katherine the Shrew was tamed by Petruchio on the night of 19 January at TK.

A cast of 24 students put their heart and soul into understanding the works of playwright William Shakespeare over the last four months, and they produced a play that would have made the Bard himself very proud. At TK, when we talk about Shakespeare at the Park, we talk about 9 and 10 year olds taking on the daunting challenge of enacting one of Shakespeare’s plays - the complete version.

This year, the play chosen was the “Taming of the Shrew”. We started preparation in September, reading extracts of various plays before the one we were performing. We unfolded and understood Shakespeare to the best of our ability, and were amused at the complex use of his English language! In about 6 weeks, we started to internalise his language and use his expressions in our daily speech. “Me thinks we will be fine by January” or “Ms N, tis 3:30, thinkst thou we should go home?”

At this point, students were well into the play preparation and we started learning our lines and understanding our characters in detail. Learning the lines is the easiest part of the performance preparation. Remembering when to say it is a little tricky, but when expressions, movement, costumes and props are added you have a drama machine!

The students were very committed and took responsibility to attend all practices and weekend rehearsals. During the performance we did not rely on prompters or any backstage guidance: the students were absolutely independent running the show on their own. Bravo to all the little actors for a job well done!

The camaraderie formed across grade levels throughout the production is one of the most rewarding outcomes of such an activity. Seasoned actors lead by example to encourage absolute beginners who enjoy learning the tricks of the trade from their peers.

Guided by Ms Dorman the performance was enhanced by students playing appropriately beautiful musical pieces intermittently to symbolise events including the wedding of Kate and Petruchio. If music be the food of love, “play on” was our motto.

It was a beautiful journey to expose young minds to lofty ideas and to watch how wonderfully they excelled by overcoming challenges at every step.

So what will our performance be next year? A tragedy or a comedy? Visit us at the TK Park to find out!