Pupils in Year 8 have transformed Ruta Sepetys’ book, Salt of the Sea, into a dramatic stage production which they then performed to the Upper Years.
Year 8 Set 1 English have been exploring the opposing voices from the characters of the book Salt to the Sea. The story is about the sinking of the German vessel, MV Wilhelm Gustloff, in 1945. The event was the largest maritime disaster in history, with four times the number of people perishing than on the sinking of the Titanic.
The production took the form of a series of monologues, which each pupil delivering one or more monologues on stage. Beginning with an empty scene, the book’s characters would arrive on stage, deliver their story and then remain frozen for the duration of the production. The show culminated with everyone delivering two key quotes from the book.
Overall, the production captured the different voices of the people during the dark time of 1945.
Felix W (Year 8)
Director
In our English lessons, we were asked to write down two opposing voices from this book and historical period. We then swapped our stories with other members of our class to perform.
We captured the different voices quite well and this helped us to understand the opposing characters within Ruta’s story.
I think the show went well because we managed to learn our characters’ stories by heart. Additionally, the transitions between the characters’ monologues were smooth which was positive.
Isabella P-J (Year 8)
