Abstract: Productions directed by Perry Mills for Edward’s Boys company, of Stratford-upon-Avon’s King Edward VI School, have attracted interest from academics and theater practitioners alike for the insights they offer into an early modern repertoire that was written mostly with child performers in mind. Tours to the South of France have drawn attention to peer-to-peer interaction between young performers and audiences. This article looks at the Edward’s Boys experience from the perspective of the players themselves. The focus is on the 2022 post-COVID production, “Trust me, I’m a Doctor!” , a “gallimaufry” of medical scenes from English, French, and Latin drama, which changed and developed throughout the cycle of performances. Tracing how the company adjusted, this article suggests that this served to foster an even greater sense of ensemble, the associated strengths of which are, the authors contend, central to the educational ethos of exploring Shakespeare and early modern drama through performance.
Mills et al. (Sun,) studied this question.