shhs magazine - South Hampstead High School

SHHS Interiors:Layout 1 12/06/2011 22:04 Page 42Latin Club at the Junior SchoolThis year (2009), we were lucky enough to run aLatin club for years Five and Six. We started withtrepidation and immaculately planned lessons butsoon realised that games not grammar were moreenthusiastically received. That is not to say that nolearning went on - the girls are all familiar with theplan of a Roman baths, having assembled jigsaws ofthem in a heated competition (with pieces earnedfrom correct answers to grammatical questions.).Another highlight was building perfectly straightRoman roads (in theory) in the Junior School diningroom armed with the traditional tools of Post-itnotes and bamboo sticks. We had a great time, andwould like to thank Miss Furlonger for her support,and also of course the girls for making it so enjoyable.Saskia V-D and Camilla P, Year 13 LeaversGreek Play in CambridgeAs the train carried the SHHS Classics students outof Kings Cross station – all ten of us, plus MissFurlonger and Mr Fosbrook – mused over whetherthis performance of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon (thefirst part of the Oresteia) would be as amusing asthe performances of The Libation Bearers and TheEumenides (the second and third parts) that wehad seen at UCL in February.We headed first to the Fitzwilliam Museum,spending time in the Greece and Rome roomsexamining exhibits such as a Roman “Swiss Armyknife” (including a spike for eating snails), manyancient coins, seals, ornaments and pottery. Therewere explanations of how the pottery was glazedand restored, as well as large slabs with Greekinscriptions that we attempted to translate.After lunch and a visit to Reynolds’ SweetShop, we met back up at the Cambridge ArtsTheatre for the performance. Aeschylus’Agamemnon tells of the decision made byAgamemnon to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia andthe events that follow. A striking scene isAgamemnon’s return to Argos as he treads the ‘seapurple’carpets laid before him by his wifeClytemnestra. His death is prophesied byCassandra, but no-one believes her, and the playends with both Agamemnon and Cassandra murderedby Clytemnestra. Several ‘oi moi’s later andwe all agreed that the play was much more successfulthan the ones we had seen at UCL, with anexcellent chorus and a notable performance fromPhoebe Haines as Cassandra.We boarded the train back to London quiteexhausted, but satisfied with pockets full of sweetsand the fact that we’d had a wholly enjoyable day inCambridge.Manuella K, Year 12Sicily 200942