Pippa Jacobi 

Wellington College Librarian

The UK World Book Day falls on the first Thursday of March and to celebrate this very special day of appreciation for books, reading and the telling of stories, we invited Mr Marcus Dilly back to Wellington for a second visit. Marcus is a professional actor with 20 years of experience in combining education and theatre, creating his signature ‘World of Wonder’ shows which he has now shared with tens of thousands of children in the UK and internationally. For his return visit, Marcus brought five brand new shows to Wellington, which he performed for pupils in reception up to year 5. Based on the theme of ‘Traditional Tales’, complete with intricate costumes and no shortage of outrageous props, he drew the pupils (and their teachers) into unique worlds of interactive storytelling. With Marcus as their guide, pupils explored the stories of George and the Dragon, Robin Hood, The Wizard of Oz, The Jungle Book and Treasure Island. Each show was noisy, energic, colourful and very funny, with plenty of adlibbing and improvisation. As you might expect, most of our pupils had no hang-ups about throwing themselves into the action, and plenty of the quieter ones were quickly volunteering to get involved once they saw how much fun it was. Marcus performed all of these high-energy shows within just two days, delighting our younger pupils and giving their imaginations an exceptional workout to boot! This kind of interactive storytelling experience is invaluable for a number of reasons. Firstly and most importantly, it encourages pupils to experiment widely and boldly with language. They can take both known and unfamiliar stories in completely new directions, tinkering with the plot, characters, dialogue and action in ways that can’t help but broaden their appreciation of different linguistic tools and devices. This approach also helps stimulate their overall ability to think creatively and have the confidence to carry it through, which is an essential skill for any kind of original storytelling or speechmaking. Finally, it gets them thinking about novel ways to interpret new ideas that are presented to them, which helps foster exactly the kind of independent thinker we want our pupils to become. Luckily, we may be seeing Marcus again sooner rather than later, as he is potentially due to make a third visit to Wellington sometime in November this year, schedules permitting. This time, we will likely see Marcus help pupils tackle more serious subject matter, as they explore the stark realities of World War One alongside other history-based shows. It seems that both pupils and teachers are very eager for another round of journeys with Marcus, as they have no shortage of praise for his storytelling style and seemingly inexhaustible energy. Look out for mentions of his return visit in the coming months and you can familiarise yourself with his wider work here.