Students in Year 10 and 11 studying the IGCSE English Literature text ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ had the chance to watch a superb production at Leeds Playhouse, which explored the challenging themes explored in Harper Lee’s novel. Adapted for the stage by Aaron Sorkin, whose credits include ‘The West Wing’ and ‘A Few Good Men’, this award-winning play about racial injustice and childhood innocence has had Broadway and West End success with ‘star-studded sell-out seasons on both sides of the Atlantic’ It was fantastic for students studying the novel to be able to see a performance of their exam text and our students left the theatre with lots to think about.
In the novel, the story is told through the eyes of 6-year-old narrator, Scout and in the play her childish and naive but often insightful perspective encouraged the audience to think carefully about the shocking treatment of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of attacking a young white girl. With the jury box empty on the stage, the audience was asked to make judgement instead, and feel Atticus Finch’s devastation that 1930s Maycomb in the south of America could condemn an innocent man to the death penalty. The message about the importance of empathy and being willing to ‘climb into the skin’ of another person was powerfully portrayed and it was a great trip.
