Schools gather for Shakespeare encore
Hundreds of young feet will be treading the boards in Stratford this week when students from across the county get to grips with the work of the Bard.
Pupils from 19 schools will be performing outdoors at the Dell Theatre, which is run by and near the Royal Shakespeare Company on the banks of the River Avon.
Last year more than 2,300 Warwickshire pupils took part in a similar festival as part of the RSC’s Complete Works festival. This year, some schools are repeating the experience by performing one of four plays.
The theme for this year’s festival is entrapment and power, a topic chosen to coincide with the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery. Primary schools will explore the theme through the plays ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘Macbeth’. Secondary schools will work with ‘Othello’ and ‘Richard III’.
As part of the preparations, experts from the RSC have been working in schools to help train teachers in drama and to give ideas for different forms of creativity.
John Haggett, Director of Warwickshire County Council’s Arts Zone, said: “We have a world famous company with some of the very best in the business on our doorstep. It’s great that our young people can make the most of these links that we have forged with the RSC. Last year’s celebration allowed a lot of creativity to be expressed and it is fantastic that so many schools are continuing to develop this work.”
Fiona Ingram, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Head of Young People’s Programme, said: "The Warwickshire schools performances in the Dell is a real highlight for the Learning Department. With so many different age ranges and so many different approaches it makes the WCC Dell days full of really challenging, interesting and exciting theatre. Through devising their plays, the students really grapple with what they plays are about and what they want to say through them to a modern audience. This not only makes for exciting theatre but also gives students a real sense of owning Shakespeare for themselves.
“It’s a delight to see so many students making Shakespeare and an RSC stage their own."