Revisiting, Revising and Reinventing.

17/1/2020

It is always a real treat when a child recalls a topic or a story a significant amount of time after the initial introduction. This happened on Wednesday when one of the children asked if I could be Guy Fawkes. I think the memory was triggered as we had been discussing kings and queens and the wearing of crowns.

It was the mention of the crown I believe which started the ball rolling. One of the children immediately ran and got the candle (which had been our gunpowder prop) and asked if she could be King James and I could be that ‘bad man’ trying to blow him up and ‘can so and so be the police that caught you.’ I thought that was a marvellous idea and was more than happy to oblige to be the ‘bad’ Guy Fawkes.

In November we had spent a week acting out the story of bonfire night. We positioned King James I wearing his crown on his throne and had two men – Guy Fawkes and Robert Catesby (who it turns out actually masterminded the whole plot) sneak in quietly to the Houses of Parliament tiptoeing their way to hide behind the throne. They were discovered by the police (modern terminology for the King’s guards who had had a tip off!) and dragged to gaol. We stopped it there and omitted the gory fate of the schemers!

So last Wednesday we revisited this little scenario and joyously the children adapted it again and again to include more and more characters. King James was joined on his throne by princess Elsa (there ended up being about three or four Elsas at any one time) and princess Anna (from Disney’s Frozen), Rapunzel (from Disney’s Tangled), and Sleeping Beauty – there were two of those (again a signpost to Disney). The boys got involved too and represented; two were King James, one wanted to be Olaf (the snowman from Frozen) and one didn’t care who he was as long as he was in mortal danger!

As the re-enactments continued, Fawkes' and Catesby’s rabble grew as did the police throng.

Whilst hiding behind the royals and Olaf I asked a member of staff to get the camera and she quipped ‘to show how Guy Fawkes nearly blew up the Disney Princesses?!’ I smiled; reinvention is a wonderful thing. And they still all lived happily ever after! :-)

Latest News