380 young people from across the country performed on the world-famous Royal Shakespeare Theatre stage last week as part of the RSC’s annual schools’ Playmaking Festival.
The Festival ran from 11-15 July 2022 and was the first ‘in person’ celebration of its kind in nearly three years. Divided into two parts: National and Local, young performers from Cornwall, Blackpool, Hull, North Staffordshire, Cumbria, County Durham and Suffolk performed their interpretations of Shakespeare’s much-loved comedy, Much Ado About Nothing on the 12 July.
On the 13 and 15 July, 10 schools and 1 college from the local Stratford-upon-Avon area got their chance to perform on stage.
Over the past two terms, the pupils have worked with a team of RSC Director Mentors as well as creatives and practitioners from the RSC’s Theatre Partners to rehearse a segment from Shakespeare’s well-known play. On arrival in Stratford-upon-Avon, the schools came together to work with the same creative team to weave the segments together and create a unique collaborative performance.
All the young people who took part in the festival are part of the RSC’s Associate Schools’ Programme or the RSC’s Stratford Schools’ Partnership. An online Playmaking Site will also celebrate the performance work created by young people across the country throughout 2022. The site has been designed by artist Cathy Mager to celebrate 16 regional Playmaking Festivals that have been taking place over the past few weeks in regional theatres and schools across the country, supported by hundreds of family and community audience members cheering them on.
Final performances took place in front of an audience of family and friends, local school children and other Associate Schools on the RST stage. The schools worked with a specially edited version of the script developed by Marieke Audsley. This abridged version has also been performed by thousands of young people up and down the country as part of Regional Playmaking Festivals in 16 different performance events since March.
Commenting on the Festival, Jacqui O’Hanlon, Director of Learning and National Partnerships at the RSC, said: “We were thrilled to welcome young people back to Stratford-upon-Avon to perform on our stages. Young people have missed out on so much during the pandemic, so this is not only a celebration of the brilliant work they’ve been doing in difficult circumstances but it was a great opportunity to reconnect, make new friends, share ideas and see some great live theatre.”
The Associate Schools Programme is our long-term partnership programme with regional theatres and schools across England. It currently consists of 246 schools and 12 regional theatre partners.
It is built around the principle of schools working in local partnerships to develop communities of practice inspired by Shakespeare’s work and based on the techniques RSC actors use in rehearsals. The Associate Schools programme is open to any state-maintained primary, secondary and special schools in England, particularly those serving areas of socio-economic disadvantage.
