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Dateline: 4th March, 2008
Stand Up for Shakespeare That's the call from the Royal Shakespeare Company which wants to "Shakespeare alive in the classroom" by calling on children, young people and teachers to:
The RSC's Artistic Director, Michael Boyd said, "Shakespeare wrote plays, and young children are geniuses at playing. Ask them to comment on a great work of literature and they will shrink away. Give a child the part of Bottom, Tybalt, Lady Macbeth or Viola, and watch them unlock their imagination, self-esteem, and a treasure trove of insight into what it’s like to be alive that will feed them for a lifetime. Shakespeare remains the world’s favourite artist because his living dilemmas of love, mortality, power and citizenship remain unresolved, vivid and urgent today." Acting Director of Education at the RSC, Jacqui O’Hanlon, added, "Over the past fourteen months, we have consulted widely and the manifesto is based on what we have learned from the 252 schools in our Learning and Performance Network and the many inspirational teachers introducing Shakespeare to young people.
"We’re already putting the recommendations into practice in our own education programme and more and more young people are enjoying Shakespeare live. In the last year alone, over 32,000 children have benefited from our £10 school ticket offer and over 6,000 young people have taken up our £5 ticket scheme for 16-25 year olds." The RSC's President, HRH the Prince of Wales, said, "I am delighted to support the “Stand Up for Shakespeare” manifesto. Its three simple principles are absolutely right. The best way to get to know Shakespeare is to start young, to “do” him rather than just read him and to see a real.... more live production. "I say this with some confidence because I was lucky enough to be introduced to Shakespeare that way myself. My first Shakespeare play was Twelfth Night at the Old Vic which I saw when I was seven or eight. It must have been more than three hours long, but I loved it all – the characters, the humour and the language. That evening kindled what has become a life-long affection for Shakespeare. Then, at school, I was lucky enough to have the chance to stand up and do it for myself, as Exeter in Henry V and as Macbeth. As the proud President of the Royal Shakespeare Company, I have had the great pleasure and privilege of seeing the vast majority of Shakespeare’s plays over the past twenty years. I never cease to marvel at the magic of Shakespeare’s language, his wisdom and intuitive insight into the human condition and the extraordinary relevance of that insight to modern life. He was truly 'not of an age, but for all time'. "If schools are inspired to teach Shakespeare in the lively ways suggested by this manifesto, “Stand Up for Shakespeare” will give a lot of young people a lot of fun, and many more of them will have their lives for ever enriched by this greatest of all writers." With the support of Jim Knight MP, Minister of State for Schools and Learners, and a raft of leading actors, including Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, Timothy West, Tamsin Greig, Janet Suzman and Patrick Stewart. There are, currently, 28 pages of messages of support from actors, teachers, students, directors and many others on the Manifesto website. You can find the full Manifesto, the list of supporters and an opportunity to add your name to the list at a special website at www.rsc.org.uk/standupforshakespeare.
Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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