Shakespeare Schools Festival

On Wednesday this week 24 students from Year 8, 9 and 10 took part in the Shakespeare Schools Festival, a national event where students of all ages and abilities perform a 30-minute version of a Shakespeare play on a professional stage. 

On the back of last year’s spectacular Romeo and Juliet, this year we opted for a comedy: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The students were cast and began rehearsals back in November and have worked diligently since then to produce a professional standard performance. 

Following an all-day rehearsal on Tuesday, we set off for the Contact Theatre in Manchester on Wednesday lunchtime and treated ourselves to a McDonald’s for lunch to keep us going through what would prove to be a long and challenging day. During their technical rehearsal, the students conducted themselves with maturity and true professionalism (commented on by the stage team at the Contact Theatre) and breezed through their dress rehearsal. After a quick pause for some food, we readied ourselves to watch and perform. 

While watching another school’s performance of Macbeth, our students were polite and supportive, and then conducted themselves beautifully backstage. 

Finally, performing in the prestigious closing spot of the show, our students gave the performance of a lifetime, successfully bringing the bard’s words to life for the audience. Afterwards, several parents and audience members commented on how fantastic their performance was, which was wonderful to hear. They should be incredibly proud of themselves as we are of them. 

We are already looking forward to next year!

Miss Spencer and Mr Vernon