School For Fools

Jesting is a serious business when it is run by the English Heritage’s National Jester Peet Cooper, otherwise known as Peterkin the Fool. Shiplake College’s Year 7 raced through over two millennia of theatre history, from Greek Drama to Agit Prop Street Theatre in just 40 minutes when the jester of international repute ran a masterclass in the College’s Tithe Barn Theatre.

Peet Cooper began with physical theatre to warm the boys up, emphasising the importance of moments and events on stage. Forming an acrobatic human sculpture was the next challenge, albeit with safety mats in place.

“In 1986 my company, an independent charity for adults with Learning Disabilities sent me on a School for Fools course. I loved jesting and have never looked back. Now I’ve come full circle. I’m working on “The Fool Project” a devised performance for Hampton Court.”

Starting rehearsals in October, the devised performance, looks at how learning disabilities may have developed the career of Henry Vlll’s favourite jester, Will Sommers, who is thought to have been the template for the fool in Shakespeare’s King Lear.

After a day of tuition the boys performed their own piece of street theatre. Mime, slap-stick, acrobatics, hide-and-seek, staged fighting and highly creative use of three gym mats produced guffaws of laughter from the audience.