Georgian schoolchildren Enjoy English history

The Merab Berdzenishvili centre Muse hosted on June 3 a play by the historian Professor Ivane Menteshashvili entitled 'This Old, Merry England'. The play was performed by pupils of Saduni School (Headmistress Marina Tsintsadze). This retrospective of English history, accompanied by a live performance of "Rule Britannia" by the school choir, dances and recitations of Kipling's poems, was a masterly manifestation of the sterling national qualities which have shone throughout English history.

Characters from different stages of English history were presented, including Sir Winston Churchill, Baroness Margaret Thatcher, quarrelsome Christopher Marlowe, elegant and daring Sir Walter Raleigh and chivalrous Sir Philip Sidney cooing in a nest, the invincible and intrepid sea dogs Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake, Bloody Queen Mary, Protestant martyrs Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer who were being burned alive, the ambitious Philip of Spain seeing his Armada routed and finally, as the climax of the "Golden Age", Queen Elizabeth I herself. The young performers were passionate and skilled. They kindled the enthusiasm of the audience and gained universal approval.

The audience cheered both the young and those behind them. The motto of the performance could have been these lines from Shakespeare’s 'Richard II': "This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England".