Notre Dame High School – A Project Alex Workshop

The first of our Project Alex workshops was held at Notre Dame High School, Sheffield, on 15 November. We spent the morning discussing a selection of historical sources for Alessandro’s life, and in the afternoon moved on to interpret this material through performance. Here’s a taste of what we did:

Dressed up for our final performance at Notre Dame High School

In the morning, students had a chance to work with primary sources.

We talked about how to interpret visual and textual information.

And debated some of the difficulties.

University of Sheffield students Ben Bradbury and Debbie Green play the Emperor Charles V.

Our masks and accessories were inspired by items listed in the Medici wardrobe records.

Sixth formers discuss options for their performance.

Getting into the ‘cloth of gold’.

Trying out a possible head-dress.

Starting to rehearse.

Turbans really were a feature of the Medici wardrobe.

The wig’s a bit of an anachronism but it’s a good look

Now, can we recreate Giorgio Vasari’s portrait of Alessandro?

The Vasari portrait recreated!

Working out a dance routine.

Cloth of gold (nearly).

And more cloth of gold.

Historical interpretation through dance.

Mrs Watson gets into the party spirit!