SITTING behind a desk grappling with language from another age is not the easiest way to get youngsters excited about theatre.
But with the help of one of the country’s top drama companies, students at Honley High School have been celebrating getting close up and personal to the plays of Shakespeare.
Teachers and young people from the high school have been working with the Royal Shakespeare Company for a year as part of a three year project.
A performance at the school last night from A Midsummer Night’s Dream showed just what an impact the project has already had and promises much for the future. There’s a repeat performance at the school tonight.
John Cotgrave, a drama teacher and head of year at the High School and colleague Caroline Davenport-Jones have been on intensive training courses in Stratford, home of the RSC, to share the company’s philosophy on how to get young people excited about Shakespeare.
It all sounds pretty much how this hugely successful company gets its own actors working in preparation for productions.
“Unless something is done, now I think that Shakespeare will be lost from school curriculums,” said John.
“A lot of English teachers don’t have the drama qualification. The aim of this course is to offer a practical approach to teaching Shakespeare.
“We’ve been looking at different approaches to the work of Shakespeare for us to take that back into the classroom.
“Twelve schools are involved nationally in the project this year and we are representing this area.
“It has been a big commitment for the RSC and for us.
“The ideas and the energy they are putting into this has been fantastic.” said John.
Teachers spend time with the company which also send its members into schools to work directly in the classroom.
The project aims to get children interested in theatre, in language and in Shakespeare. For many youngsters, it helps with confidence, with self-expression and in some schools is said to have improved reading and writing skills.
Exercises devised by the company get the students to think about the characters in the play, about what sort of people they are, why they might behave as they do.
Actors do just the same kind of exercises to help them understand the words that they have to deliver.
Understand the person and the words should come more easily.
It is a process which has clearly gripped students at Honley who have been dubbed the Dream Team as they prepared for this week’s performances.
“We have a lovely cast. They have all had to audition and they’ve shown great commitment,” said John.
“We have some real stars in our team but the key word is ensemble and that’s what we have tried to initiate.”
The audiences have included heads from local feeder schools which will be involved in year two of the project.
“They are already excited about being involved,” said John.
“In the second year, the high school has to act as the hub of a Shakespeare festival which is going to be at the Lawrence Batley Theatre next March.
“It will involve all the feeder schools and they will each contribute a performance of up to 20 minutes exploring a theme or a character from Shakespeare. They are all very excited about it.
“One of the performances will be selected to be seen again at the Courtyard theatre at the RSC next year.
“In year three I think that we would like to start having an annual Shakespeare festival with our feeder schools before perhaps extending it to other feeder schools.
“I’m also looking at possibly starting an adult class to run at Honley. This would be an evening class.
“We need parents to be engaged with Shakespeare too. The RSC might be able to support that.”
The RSC has inspired John and Caroline and many teachers across the country to share their passion for Shakespeare and for theatre and to pass that on to a new generation.
It may well help encourage more young people to go to live theatre but if it simply gives them more self-confidence, or fires their interest in people and words, then who could ask for more.
