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The Shakespeare Schools FestivalDateline: 16th October, 2005Last Friday I had the pleasure of being the "appraiser" of one evening's performances of the Shakespeare Schools Festival at the Customs House in South Shields. This was the fourth and last night of the Festival at the venue and on each evening four schools had presented shortened versions (mainly, but not exclusively, the half-hour BBC Animated Shakespeare versions) of Shakespearean plays. Similar performances, over a varying number of nights, have taken or will take place at six other North East venues: Stockton's Arc, where eight schools took part; Whitley Bay Playhouse (also eight); the Middlesborough Theatre (twelve schools); Hexham's Queen's Hall (four schools); the Gala in Durham (twelve schools). and Alnwick Playhouse (two schools). A total, then, of 62 schools. But that isn't all: 59 Welsh schools are also taking part in the Festival, as are 56 in the East Midlands and 80 in the South East. In other words, over a fortnight students from 257 schools performed a Shakespearean production in a professional theatre close to them. I prefaced my comments on the performances by saying, "I am jealous! I began my acting career fifty years ago when I was younger than most of you, and I have never had the chance to play the parts you have tonight." It was absolutely true! A fifteen year old Malvolio, two fourteen year olds playing Romeo and Juliet, a fifteen year old Katerina... what wonderful opportunities for young actors. And what is particularly great is that they were obviously really enjoying themselves. It all began in 2000 when Festival Director Chris Grace piloted the idea with eight schools in Pembrokeshire. This is how it works: each school selects one of the twelve abridged plays. The teacher chooses the play, casts up to 30 pupils in their roles, and directs the production from start to finish. The script is provided on disk or downloaded from the website, as is a guide to the Festival which provides technical support and advice on how to put the production together. The unique set used on the day of performance consists of the word SHAKESPEARE - each letter has a different function, with the H doubling as a throne, and the A being a six foot ladder/ podium. Schools send their teacher-directors on a teacher-training day in June with the Royal Shakespeare Company. The day includes directorial techniques, relevant to both novice and experienced teachers of drama, and has proven to be invaluable in developing ideas, increasing confidence and opening Shakespeare's work to interpretation. In September, the pupils receive an in-school workshop with Dramarama, an award-winning professional theatre company. Local actors tailor each workshop to the school's chosen play, touring every school and working closely with the young casts to draw the very best performance from them. On the day of performance, each cast has a full technical and dress rehearsal with the support of a professional stage crew, adding the finishing touches to their production. That evening, four different half-hour Shakespeare plays are performed to a paying audience of parents, colleagues, schoolchildren and the general public. At the end of the evening, the performers are invited back on stage for an appraisal by a professional from the arts or education community. The last five paragraphs, by the way, are taken from the Festival website - sorry for the plagiarism, folks, but you say it better than I could! The plans for the future are impressive: from 2007 the Festival will become biennial and, in one single week, 1,200 schools across the UK and 30,000 students will perform in 100 theatres.
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