Friday 23rd April – Launch Day!
It felt like between myself, Ben Spiller, Katherine Glenn and Stuart Lydon, like this day
would never come. We’d worked for so long putting together the ‘Great Shakespearean
Workout’ and had teamed up with Derby Hospital to make sure that it was safe for everyone
to participate in, that I couldn’t believe we were about to officially launch it to the public.
So, it began in the London Road Community Hospital, where with limited space, we
managed to march in two Greek soldiers in full armour, Thersites covered in delightful scabs
and infested with diseases and of course the ever so glamorous Helen of Troy. We were
able to rouse some of the passing staff to join in, whilst the whole 1623 gang were there to
show off their “good arms” and “strong joints”!
Then it was time to jump on the bus in full costume, for which we received some pretty
confused looks, but most of the public seemed to appreciate it!
In comparison to the previous Hospital, we had a huge outdoor space to make our own at
Royal Derby Hospital, which was great for me, as it meant I got to bang my drum as loud as
I pleased to keep our workout participants in time.
It seemed we managed to time the beginning workout just right, as most of the medical
students were just being released, and as a result we got a great audience, who all seemed
to enjoy watching (if not joining in) with the rest of us, who were getting quite warm by that
point!
With the feedback we were given after the workout, I knew that rest of workouts would be
just as much fun!
Wednesday 3rd June
Travelling to Whaley Bridge Church Hall saw me having to be up bright and early with my
drum, and after the hour and half drive to Whaley Bridge, I was ready and raring to go to get
the workout started!
It was great to see a range of ages show an interest in the workout, ranging from young
children to teenagers to adults, and whilst some of them might not have been able to
understand all the language used, none of them were afraid to join in and sweat in the name
of Shakespeare!
It seemed like regardless of the age differences everyone had fun, and it was great to have
the public be bold enough to ask questions if there was something they didn’t understand, or
something they else they wanted to know in general about Troilus and Cressida.
Then it was time to say our goodbyes and journey to Ilkeston Library, and considering a
library is normally silent, nobody was afraid to make some noise in order to move to the
beat of Shakespeare, it was fantastic! Whilst we even had someone who couldn’t stand for
the entirety of the workout, they managed to perfect the art of marching and chanting whilst
seated – which just shows that the workout is for everyone, and to me, I think that’s what I’ve
wanted to achieve with the workout from the beginning, so it was a real pleasure to see.
Sunday 6th June
What started off as a beautiful sunny day typically went very British, and the heavens
opened just as we were meant to begin our outdoor workout in Shipley Park!
However, 1623 are never ones to let the rain stop a workout, so we merely moved indoors!
The amount of people that turned up was amazing, and it seemed that word of mouth (and
the din of the drum!) spread throughout at the building and as a result, more and more
people kept joining us throughout the workout to come and take part. Even if it was a bit of
a squeeze fitting a good 30 or 40 people into a room, whilst still giving them the space to do
the workout, it seemed that everyone was able to cope and had a great time doing so.
I was shocked to find out that people had come from all over the country to come and take
part, at the same time, it was great to know that so much interest had been generated for
something I was able to be a part of.
Associate trainee Oliver Tunstall is keeping a blog of his experiences with The Great Shakespearean Workout 2010, which he helped to develop in its early stages last year.
