This Thursday, 40 Year 10 GCSE History pupils made the short trip to the Palace Theatre, Redditch to attend the production of ‘The Inquisition of Queen Elizabeth’.
The play was divided into four part, each part lead to a workshop session that looked at how the events of the play relate to the GCSE course, offering advice about ways of improving their examination performance. The workshop presenters asked pupils to mark answers to a set of questions covering each of the assessment objectives, as if they were examiners in a moderation meeting. Pupils found their exam marking experience very beneficial, exploring how markers apply the mark scheme to work. Even more impressive, when it was our schools’ turn to feedback we managed to get the exact mark! A good sign for Year 10 heading towards their summer mocks.
The play is framed as a thought experiment in which students are asked to imagine that Queen Elizabeth has been captured by Catholic invaders and put on trial by a newly created English Inquisition. Leading the Inquisition is Cardinal William Allen, leader of English Catholics in exile, whose mission is the re-conversion of England to the Catholic faith. His aim is to destroy the personal, political and religious credibility of the deposed Queen. The witnesses that he summons provide damning testimony concerning all aspects of her reign. To save her own life, Elizabeth must provide a credible defence against their evidence.
Our pupils concluded the Elizabeth should be cleared of the charges against her. Whilst we won’t share the exact ending (as we don’t want to spoil it for other years), it certainly finished with a bang!!
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