174 young people from nine primary and secondary schools across England will present their own performances inspired by Shakespeare at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon on Monday. The event is part of Shine week, a national celebration of talent in young people. Monday’s event will be hosted by comedian and television presenter Hardeep Singh Kohli. He will be joined by the RSC’s Artistic Director Michael Boyd and members of the RSC’s acting ensemble including Michelle Gomez, who is current starring in “The Taming of the Shrew.”
The nine schools invited to perform in Stratford are part of the RSC’s Learning and Performance Network, which encourages creative approaches to the teaching, learning and performance of Shakespeare’s plays. Jacqui O’Hanlon, the RSC’s Acting Director of Education says, “We have worked with these teachers and students for the last two years, and I know that they are both thrilled and scared in equal measure at the prospect of performing their work on a professional stage.” The Network consists of 157 Primary Schools, 87 Secondary Schools, 6 Special Schools and 2 Pupils Reintegration Units. The RSC estimates that 65,000 students have participated in the network already. They expect that number to increase by August 2010 to approximately 150,000 students and more than 7,000 teachers.
The RSC recently launched Stand up for Shakespeare, a manifesto for Shakespeare in schools. The manifesto states that children and young people have the best possible experience of Shakespeare when they start studying his works early, see live performances and act out the plays rather than just read them. The RSC calls The Learning and Performance Network the manifesto in action.
Web Resources:
RSC press release
RSC Learning and Performance Network
Stand Up for Shakespeare
One Comment
Few things would make me want to go back and teach in an English secondary school - but the RSC ‘initiative’ is one that would.