A fantastic day

What a great day we had when Sir Nicholas Hytner came back to school to open the new drama centre which, as Chairman of our campaign fund, he had done so much to make possible.  Check photos of the day here ('Nick Hytner Day').

Fresh from the tour opening of his Hamlet, starring Rory Kinnear, at the Lowry, he gave an audience of sixth formers from MGS and neighbouring schools a detailed account of how such a production comes together.  You can see a video of his talk here.

In the afternoon he answered with great patience seemingly endless questions from members of a Junior School Assembly audience, before working sympathetically through a series of Shakespeare scenes with our Year 11 GCSE Drama set.

All in all, a wonderful day.

Sir Nicholas returns

We are looking forward to a visit next week by Sir Nicholas Hytner, who somehow found the time and enthusiasm amid his responsibilities as Director of the National Theatre to act as Chairman of our Drama Centre Fund from 2006 to 2010. The Fund made possible the creation of our Drama Centre, opened 2 months ago.  This will be his first chance to see the project since building work started.  His last visit, with Alan Bennett and many of the cast of The History Boys, was late in 2006, and set us up for a successful campaign which has all but covered the £1.8 million cost of the rebuilding works.

Here in the Development Office we are in touch with thousands of our ex-pupils, and by no means all of them achieve particular distinction or fame.  However, many do, and it's humbling to feel that what happened to them during their time at MGS made some contribution to this.  For a neat summary of NH's achievements in the last few years, and his plans to take the National Theatre forward, click here and here.