Its been over a month since community reporter Jo Booth met with pupils from Burnage Media Arts College, back in October the youths were in the process of practicing for their performance of Twelfth night as part of the Shakespeare schools festival (SSF)
The festival is celebrating ten years of involvement with schools, and believes that through performing Shakespeare's plays participants gain confidence, team work , and peer leadership skills and all with the advantage of learning about Shakespeare – by getting to grips with the language, themes and characters.
Through chatting to the boys it seems that something that may have once been feared as a bore to youngsters is now fun, fresh, exhilarating and most definitely appealing to the varying students that have been involved....
When asked how the play went one boy told “ We practiced a lot, we really put our effort in to it and it came out better than I thought it would” another said “ We was nervous, but when the audience was cheering it built our confidence” and confidence building it certainly was, all seemed incredibly positive about their experience. The aims of SSF were clearly met within these pupils, confidence was heightened, new friends were made and team work skills were improved.
When speaking about Shakespeare it was amazing how enthusiastic they were about the play write, there perceptions have changed for the better. One told “He used to be boring, but when it comes to drama its different and better” these thoughts were matched by another “Some of the words we didn't understand, like thou, but when we acted we understood it”
The final question asked was; if their experience with SSF could be described in one word what it would be below are the responses given.
“Fantastic!”
“Brilliant!”
“Amazing!”
“Excellent!”
“Helpful”
“Supportive”
It seems that that the pupils really enjoyed themselves and have gained many positives through their experiences with SSF. If you would like further information, or perhaps you are a teacher and would like to register an interest in the 2011 festival you can do so by visiting the following link; http://www.ssf.uk.com/.
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