On Wednesday evening a group of 6th Form Theatre Studies and English Literature students grabbed their packed suppers and bundled into the minibus for the short journey to Bristol to watch a performance of Hamlet starring OB John Sandeman.

John left King’s in 2003, however a number of staff recall teaching him, and remember his wonderful dramatic and vocal performances for the School. John has been in work since graduating from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and is both Fight Captain and playing the role of Marcellus in the show.

The Tobacco Factory is a fantastic small venue, its intimacy offering an interesting perspective, particularly into the play’s many soliloquies. This is an unfussy, traditional, but nonetheless robust version of the play: all the performances grew on us as the momentum of events unfolded, gripping us to the last scene when the stage is littered with dead corpses.

For the Theatre Studies students this was an opportunity to enrich their understanding of performance, for the English Literature students a chance to deepen their knowledge of the genre of tragedy, and for all it was a delight to witness an OB flourishing in a career in the theatre.

Well worth the late night!