On Thursday the 2^nd of December, the Sixth Form were given an excellent talk by Dr Chloe Allison, as part of the weekly speaker programme.

Dr Allison, who has received a PhD from Cambridge University, is a musicologist and spoke about performance, and how the creatives such as a music, opera and dance usually have severe underrepresentation of minority groups. This includes the LGBTQ+ community and people of colour. Alongside her business-partner, Dr Anna Luise-Wagner, she founded an all-female, interdisciplinary performance collective called ‘Marginalia’ which brings stories from historical research to life through performance.

Marginalia aims to tell stories that remain hidden on the margins of history as well as explore and shine a new light on familiar material. An example of this is their performance of ‘A rose by another name: Juliet and Romeo.’ This is where Marginalia combines Shakespeare’s timeless words with intoxicating melodies from Bellini’s ‘I Capuleti e I Montecchi.’ Allison encouraged the Sixth Form to be more aware and open when listening or seeing various productions or entertainment, to brighten the focus on creators that are depreciated in the timeless industry.

Ariana Barinstein, Lower Sixth