Theatre in Education (11) - Research

Our performance is going to be in front of Year 9's, which are Key Stage 3's. We chose to perform a Shakespeare play to them as Shakespeare is part of the KS3 Drama and English specification. Last year they studied Macbeth in drama and Richard III in English. Some of us agreed that we didn't enjoy Shakespeare in English when we did it, but this is because Shakespeare was meant to be performed not read. Therefore, we chose to do a comedy Shakespeare play to try and destroy  negative pre-conceptions of Shakespeare before they know what it is like. We wanted to make Shakespeare accessible to the students and help improve their understanding.

Below are some Theatre in Education and Shakespeare companies that I researched:

• Big Brum -- http://www.bigbrum.org.uk/index.html -- It is a registered company founded in 1982 and based in the West Midlands. Earlier this year they toured their version of Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" and are now currently touring "Rumpelstiltskin - The Straw Baby". Their production of "Macbeth" was an adapted performance and was followed by a workshop which got the children to "analyse, collaborate, make decisions, justify and evaluate". It was designed for students in years 5, 6, 7 and upwards. "Rumpelstiltskin" was designed for years 2, 3 and 4. Their performance is followed by a workshop which children learn to empathise with different characters.
• Rubbish Shakespeare -- http://www.rubbishshakespearecompany.com/about-us -- The company's ethos is "Shakespeare for all". They perform their own adapted versions which combine the original text with "modern contemporary language" to make their play more engaging and relatable. Although I really like this idea, I don't think we need to do this as our intended audience is a bit older and they are studying Shakespeare for English (as well as drama) so the language is very important. However, their idea of making the piece relatable inspired me and inspired us with the idea of making the fairies very common. Below is a quote from their website that explains about their version of the same play we are doing and how it became famous.
  

  "The company have collaborated with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Canal & River Trust to deliver the critically received 'Stratford 2 Stratford' project. This saw the company take thirty students from Stratford in London to Stratford Upon Avon on canal boats, and over the course of ten days create a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The project received national attention, celebrity endorsers and the pupils not only had the opportunity to perform at the RSC with the company, but also to participate in and learn new life experiences that will benefit them throughout their lives."

  They believe that Shakespeare needs to be performed or viewed performed to be understood properly - for a younger audience, I definitely agree with this! They do performances to schools and then follow their performances with workshops. 
• Guildford Shakespeare Company -- https://www.guildford-shakespeare-company.co.uk/vision.html -- Their aim is to make Shakespeare accessible and understandable for people who wouldn't normally see it or come across it. They are a site-specific company whose honorary patron is Brian Blessed. They make their theatre very immersive, performing in close proximity to the audience - this is something that I liked about the company and thought we could experiment with at times - however, as our audience is a bit younger, we have to remember the health and safety factors and that we don't want to overwhelm our audience either - we want them to feel safe and comfortable and simply enjoy the experience whilst learning from it. They run a variety of different workshops and tailor these workshops to suit the needs of the school - the play, the theme, the age group, etc. How adaptable this company is got me thinking more about the specific needs of our audience and who our audience really are. As stated at the beginning of this blog, our audience are Key Stage 3 students who will be studying Shakespeare for both drama and English. Moreover, they are all boys so what they find amusing may be different to what a mixed audience would find funny - they may be less sympathetic to the female characters and prefer certain male characters depending on how they interact with other characters.