Will Close Drama Workshop

Henrician Will Close visited PHHS in the Summer Term on 3rd 4th July and spent an afternoon with our Year 10 and 12 drama students discussing his own journey with us from his time here at Prince Henry’s through to receiving his BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor, playing Harry Kane in the National Theatre’s production of ‘Dear England‘.  It was fascinating chatting through his own memories and involvement in the drama department and school productions as if it were only yesterday. Our students did a Q and A session with Will and were in awe of his achievements, loving his down to earth approach and his absolute belief that anything really is possible if you work hard and believe in yourself.

The following day, Will worked with Year 12 using his own radio play, ‘Mediocre White Male’ as stimulus material. The play had recently aired on Radio 4 so it was an absolute privilege to have listened to this before Will’s visit and then work through how he had co – written it and the reasons why. Our students had the opportunity to learn new drama techniques consolidatingand pushing their own creative abilities, writing their own monologues and discovering the relevance of naturalism in the radio play as well as learning about the technique called the Slow Reveal.

Will’s contribution to Speech Day and his absolute belief in the importance of the arts in our lives was humbling and really resonated with us as a school. An absolute inspiration who we hope will come back and visit us again soon!