Join St Paul’s Director of Music, Mark Wilderspin and Director of Drama, Christian Anthony as they deliver a two part series on the creative arts.
This masterclass will run for 2 weeks on the below dates:
Masterclass Overview
Week One with Mark Wilderspin – Say it Loud: Passion, Pride and Protest in Funk and Soul Music
Protest music is a familiar label and carries baggage that intersects with politics, inequality and the desire for social change. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the music of Black America and especially in funk and soul music of the late 1960s and early 1970s. But that same music has as much been a source of cultural identity and pride.
As we approach one year on from the George Floyd protests and the reinvigoration of the Black Lives Matter movement, this talk explores some of the twentieth-century context for the ongoing struggle for representation and equal treatment that people of colour have faced, encountering some of the most iconic funk and soul tunes ever written along the way.
Week Two with Christian Anthony – Politicising Pinter: Language and Power in The Birthday Party
This masterclass, given by Christian Anthony – Director of Drama, will look to reinterpret Harold Pinter’s early work through the prism of his later political activism. The class will place Pinter’s first full-length play, The Birthday Party, in dialogue with Pinter’s various political writings, as well as his work for PEN and Amnesty International, in order to reinterpret menacing domestic drama as potent political metaphor…
Attendees are strongly advised to read a copy of The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter before this class.
About our Masterclass Series
Our Masterclasses are run by members of our remarkable teaching staff here at St Paul’s, who have volunteered their time to share their knowledge and expertise with the School’s community, allowing parents and Old Paulines insight into today’s teachings, whilst engaging with new and exciting subjects.
If you would like to show your appreciation for our free Masterclasses and the efforts and expertise of our teachers, you can do so by supporting our Shaping our Future bursary appeal. We are proud to be working to provide the very best in education and, amid the anxiety created by the pandemic, one positive conclusion is clear: education matters more than ever. If you are able to, please support our bursary and partnerships work so we can expand our impact on our local and wider community by making a donation or by joining our giving group, the 1509 Society, and setting up a regular gift from £1.59 a month www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/eventsdonation.
Suggested donation for the Masterclass series – £50.