The Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF) is the largest youth drama festival in the UK and offers a non-competitive, supportive and celebratory opportunity for young people to perform Shakespeare in a local professional theatre. On one night, four schools come together to perform four different half-hour plays and, by doing so, widen their horizons and discover for themselves what they are capable of achieving.
It allows teachers to develop drama skills and new ways of teaching through doing, and gives primary, secondary and special schools a novel way to raise their profile within the community.
“They (the students) have seen all staff and pupils become part of one whole happy team, sharing goals, up keeping expectations and working really hard.” Lizzy Rose, Teacher, Robert Gordon’s College Junior School
Registration includes:
-A Teacher CPD day
-A workshop at your local professional venue for the cast in September
-Access to 21 abridged scripts and resources on staging Shakespeare
-A day in a professional theatre with all the technical and directorial support needed to run a technical and dress rehearsal, and to perform in October/November
-Continuous support from your Regional coordinator
SSF is for all teachers in Scotland regardless of their level of experience in directing and for all young people – whether they think Shakespeare is boring or find it difficult to engage in the classroom, or are high achievers and love acting.
“The whole experience was immensely rewarding for everyone: it built confidence with Shakespeare’s text; it made our pupils feel ten feet tall when they performed alongside much, much larger schools. We enjoyed the workshops and the experience of performing. Our marketing team loved the chance to plan and sell a product. We would do it again in a heartbeat.” Mandy Tevendale, Teacher, Mallaig High School, Inverness-shire
Registration costs £750 + VAT. As a charity we raise an additional £900 towards the cost of participation for every school.
SSF is supported by OCR, AQA, Edexcel and Arts Award.
To register or find out how your students can grow through performing Shakespeare on stage alongside three other schools, please call us on 0207 601 1814 or go to our website www.ssf.uk.com
