On the way to Valkenburg

Well we set off on our trip to Holland at ten o'clock this evening. Two buses with 68 excited pupils. I'm quite glad to be on the road after all the packing. David is on my bus too but of course he is not sitting with the teachers. I'm glad that he's here but I will miss my other boys. This afternoon James and I went to the Tramway Theatre to see Alan Cumming's one man version of Macbeth, set in a mental hospital. Very bleak but brilliantly performed, I don't know how he had the stamina to carry the whole play by himself. He used clever ways to convey the different characters, for example three screens showing him from different angles when he was being the witches. But in the end, as James pointed out, why bother doing it as a one man show when it was not written with that intention? Also, despite Alan Cumming's skilful use of different voices and postures I think that it would have been quite hard to follow if you didn't already know the plot of Macbeth. All in all I enjoyed the experience; I think that Alan Cumming is a brilliant actor, and it was great fun discussing it all with James on the way home. So back to the bus; the teachers and pupils have been watching the football on their phones and Italy have just beaten England on penalties in the Euros quarter finals. Great celebrations on the bus but I felt sorry for England. It is beginning to get dark as we head south on the motorway, but the pupils show no signs of settling down!