Shakespeare Schools Festival
Encyclopedia
The Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF) charity is the UK’s largest youth drama festival, enabling four schools a night to perform a half hour abridged versions of Shakespeare's
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

 plays in local, professional theatres all over the United Kingdom. Since its inception in 2000, with 8 schools, it has worked with 4,842 teacher directors to enable 100,000 young people to unlock their potential on the stage. SSF is partnered, with the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

 and the National Youth Theatre
National Youth Theatre
The National Youth Theatre is a registered charity in London, Great Britain, committed to creative, personal and social development of young people through the medium of creative arts....

.

SSF provides an active way of learning that is fun. The aim however is to bridge "the attainment gap" by boosting articulacy and confidence as well as imparting key employability skills such as teamwork, peer leadership and self-discipline - all in addition to the benefits of Shakespeare's language, themes and characters. All schools are welcome. The Festival actively targets disadvantaged schools and teachers who feel that their young people cannot do Shakespeare. The growing international programme also includes cultural exchange between 50 plus participating countries and the UK Festival schools. For the first time, this year, SSF is extending its programme to Primary Schools.

The Festival is also partnered with Telereal Trillium
Telereal Trillium
Telereal Trillium Ltd is a commercial property management and investment company, headquartered in central London. It is wholly owned by the Pears family, via the William Pears Group and family trust-based holdings.-History:...

 and the Transformation Trust.

History

The Festival began in 2000 and is now in its 11th year . In the last 10 years SSF has worked with: 225 professional theatres, 4,500 teachers, 100,000 young people. The Festival introduces young people to the excitement and discipline of live theatre. Through workshops and performance it enables them to appreciate the genius of Shakespeare, to aim high and to take pride in their achievements. Their belief is that for young people performing Shakespeare helps make sense of the world.

1995 - Shakespeare: The Animated Tales

In 1995, twelve of Shakespeare’s best loved plays were abridged to half hour scripts for the S4C
S4C
S4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fifth oldest British television channel .The channel - initially broadcast on...

 and BBC Wales
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...

 series, Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
Shakespeare: the Animated Tales
thumb|right|[[Banquo]] and [[Fleance]] from the "Macbeth" episode. Shakespeare: The Animated Tales comprised two six-part television series, first broadcast in 1992 and 1994...

. Ninety per cent of the UK's secondary schools now use the Tales as their introduction to the language and plays of Shakespeare for years 7-10 (11-15 year olds), making it BBC Education's most popular series. In 2009 the films were made available by the DCSF to all English primary schools.

2000 – Pembrokeshire 8 schools, 240 pupils, 1 theatre

In 2000, Chris Grace, Director of Animation at S4C and Executive Producer of The Animated Tales, launched the Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF). Nineteen of Shakespeare's best loved plays were abridged to half-hour scripts for us on the stage. Pupils from eight schools in Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire is a county in the south west of Wales. It borders Carmarthenshire to the east and Ceredigion to the north east. The county town is Haverfordwest where Pembrokeshire County Council is headquartered....

 performed over two nights to sell-out audiences at the Torch Theatre, Milford Haven
Torch Theatre, Milford Haven
The Torch Theatre is a not-for-profit theatre in Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, WalesEstablished in 1977, it is one of only three building-based producing theatres in the whole of Wales. The theatre was designed by local architect, Monty Minter. As well as hosting touring productions, The Torch...

.

2001 - London 60 schools/1,500 pupils/3 theatres

October 2001 saw 1,800 pupils from 60 inner city London schools performing in three professional theatres. The Festival culminated in a Gala night at the West End’s Duke of York’s Theatre, which was attended by Cherie Booth QC
Cherie Blair
Cherie Blair , known professionally as Cherie Booth QC, is a British barrister working in the legal system of England and Wales. She is married to the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair; the couple have three sons and one daughter...

 and the Secretary of State DCMS, Tessa Jowell
Tessa Jowell
Tessa Jowell is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Dulwich and West Norwood since 1992. Formerly a member of both the Blair and Brown Cabinets, she is currently the Shadow Minister for the Olympics and Shadow Minister for London.-Early life:Tessa Jane...

, who called the evening “one of the year’s cultural highlights”.

2002 - Wales 100 schools/2,500 pupils/10 theatres

With the support of the Welsh Assembly Government
Welsh Assembly Government
The Welsh Government is the devolved government of Wales. It is accountable to the National Assembly for Wales, the legislature which represents the interests of the people of Wales and makes laws for Wales...

, the Arts Council of Wales
Arts Council of Wales
The Arts Council of Wales is a Welsh Government sponsored body, responsible for funding and developing the arts in Wales.Established by Royal Charter in 1946, as the Welsh Arts Council , when it merged with the three Welsh regional arts associations...

 and Cardiff 2002, Jenny Randerson AM launched the Wales 2002 Festival in the Old Library, Cardiff on 17 September. 3,000 pupils from 100 schools across the country were given the opportunity to perform in Welsh, English or bilingually, in one of 11 professional theatres.

2003 – South West, West Midlands & Yorkshire

Embarking on a three year cycle to cover the whole of England and Wales, the Festival was launched nationwide at a reception hosted by Cherie Booth QC at 10 Downing St.

In 2003, 340 schools/8,500 pupils/32 theatres 8,500 young actors from 340 schools performing in 32 theatres across the regions. Three schools were picked to perform at a private reception for the Washington state visit in Downing Street, in front of an audience which included Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...

 and Phillip Pullman. They went on to perform again for the Arts & Kids 'Million Kids' launch at the Hackney Empire
Hackney Empire
The Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in the London Borough of Hackney, built in 1901 as a music hall.-History:Hackney Empire is a grade II* listed building...

 in the presence of HRH the Prince of Wales.

2004 – London, North West, East England

380 schools/10,000 pupils/38 theatres The year started with a fund-raising performance at the West End’s Peacock Theatre
Peacock Theatre
The Peacock Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Portugal Street, near Aldwych. The 999-seat house is owned by, and comprises part of the London School of Economics and Political Science campus, who utilise the theatre for lectures, public talks, conferences,...

 in the presence of HRH the Prince of Wales and Festival Patron, Kwame Kwei-Armah
Kwame Kwei-Armah
Kwame Kwei-Armah, is a British actor, playwright, singer and broadcaster. In 2005 he became the second black Briton to have a play staged in the West End...

. In the summer one of the London schools took part in the National Youth Theatre’s 'Shakespeare In The Square event', securing themselves coverage on BBC London’s regional news.

2005 – East Midlands, North East & South East England

Tom Stoppard’s abridgement of The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...

 was premiered at the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...

 by a company of 2004 Festival performers and the National Youth Theatre. During the same year the BBC invited SSF to stage a one-day Festival in 100 theatres across the UK on Sunday July 3, as the launch of their Shakespeare Season, One Night of Shakespeare. Schools performed in theatres from the Shetland Isles to Bodmin, from Enniskillen to Margate and set the model for the Festival to become fully UK-national. SSF attained a place in the Guinness Book of Records.

2007 - Shakespeare Schools Festival, UK-wide

For the first time, the Shakespeare Schools Festival is held across the entire UK between the 5- 9 February 2007. A fund-raising dinner was held at the Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...

, hosted by Anna Ford
Anna Ford
Anna Ford is a retired English journalist and television presenter, best known as a newsreader....

 and Charles Dance
Charles Dance
Walter Charles Dance, OBE is an English actor, screenwriter and director. Dance typically plays assertive bureaucrats or villains. His most famous roles are Guy Perron in The Jewel in the Crown , Dr Clemens, the doctor of penitentiary Fury 161, who becomes Ellen Ripley's confidante in Alien 3 ,...

. Cameo performances from participating schools were held at the National Theatre hosted by patron Nicholas Hytner
Nicholas Hytner
Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner is an English film and theatre producer and director. He has been the artistic director of London's National Theatre since 2003.-Biography:...

.

2008 - SYF, S24, Shakespeare in the City and Festival

February- March 2008, saw the launch of the Shakespeare Youth Festival (SYF), a UK-wide pilot which gave 16-21 year olds the opportunity to set up their own theatre company, to direct, produce, manage, tech, market and perform their own 45 minute abridgement of a Shakespeare play. 118 groups took part in 35 theatres.

Shakespeare 24 (S24) was an exciting worldwide Shakespeare performance event beginning in New Zealand and ending 24 hours later in Hawaii on April 23, 2008. 65 youth groups from 35 countries staged 30 and 45 minute adaptations of Shakespeare's plays at 7pm, local time on Shakespeare’s 444th birthday. Alongside one of the best productions from SYF, Jamila Gavin's
Jamila Gavin
Jamila Gavin is a British writer born in Mussoorie, India in the foothills of the Himalayas.Her father was Indian and her mother English...

 abridgement of Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...

 was performed by the National Youth Theatre at Playhouse in Liverpool. The event was appraised by Phil Redmond
Phil Redmond
Phil Redmond CBE is an English television producer and screenwriter.He is well-known for creating several popular television series such as Grange Hill , Brookside and Hollyoaks...

, director of Liverpool, European Capital of Culture.

As part of the European Capital of Culture year, SSF worked throughout Liverpool, with young companies from the Shakespeare Youth Festival performing in 33 venues and locations from museums and cathedrals to parks and bombed out churches.

To cap off a busy year, Shakespeare Schools Festival returned in the Autumn with 500 schools performing across the UK. 500 Schools and over 10,000 pupils performed in 60 theatres UK-wide.

2009 - Shakespeare Schools Festival, UK-wide

SSF joined in partnership with the National Theatre (providers of the Teacher Director workshops) and the National Youth Theatre (providers of the Cast workshops). NT directors and actors such as Carl Heap, Dominic Hill, Adrian Lester
Adrian Lester
-Personal life:Lester was born in Birmingham, England, the son of Jamaican immigrants Monica, a medical secretary, and Reginald, a manager for a contract cleaning company. He sang as a boy treble in the choir of St. Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham...

, Phyllida Lloyd
Phyllida Lloyd
Phyllida Lloyd CBE is an English director, best known for her work in theatre and as the director of the most financially successful British film ever released, Mamma Mia!.-Career:...

, Hattie Morahan
Hattie Morahan
Harriet Jane Morahan is an award-winning English television, film, and stage actress.-Background:Hattie Morahan is the youngest daughter of television and film director Christopher Morahan and actress Anna Carteret...

 joined Nicholas Hytner in giving master classes for teachers. A contemporary script based on All's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1604 and 1605, and was originally published in the First Folio in 1623....

, written by Lucinda Coxon
Lucinda Coxon
-Plays:Coxon's plays include Nostalgia and Vesuvius at South Coast Repertory, California; Improbabilities at Soho Poly; Wishbones and Waiting at the Water's Edge at the Bush Theatre, London; Three Graces at Lakeside Theatre, Colchester and the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester...

, was offered by the NT to teachers who had done SSF before. Jenny Agutter
Jenny Agutter
Jennifer Ann "Jenny" Agutter is an English film and television actress. She began her career as a child actress in the mid 1960s, starring in the BBC television series The Railway Children and the film adaptation of the same book, before moving on to adult roles and relocating to Hollywood.She...

 appraised performances at The Unicorn theatre, Southwark and agreed to become a patron. 500 schools and over 10,000 young people performed in 67 theatres.

Trustees

Rupert Pennant-Rea
Rupert Pennant-Rea
Rupert Lascelles Pennant-Rea is a British businessman, journalist, and former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. The son of Peter and Pauline Pennant-Rea, he was educated at the Peterhouse School, an Anglican church boarding school near Marandellas, Rhodesia , before attending Trinity...

(chair), Chairman of Henderson Group, formerly editor of The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...

 and Deputy Governor of the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...

, and Chair of SSF since 2001.

Dame Jenny Abramsky
Jenny Abramsky
Dame Jennifer Gita Abramsky, DBE is chairman of the UK's National Heritage Memorial Fund . The NHMF makes grants to preserve heritage of outstanding national importance. Until her retirement from the BBC Jenny Abramsky was its most senior woman employee; she was Director of Audio and Music...

, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund
Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...

, the University of London Board of Trustees, and of Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...

; and Governor of the Royal Ballet; formerly Director of Audio & Music at the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

.

Sir Malcolm Field, formerly Chief Executive of WHSmith; non executive director of a number of quoted companies and more recently appointments in the public sector; served on the boards of the Royal College of Art
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...

 and the English National Ballet School
English National Ballet School
English National Ballet School is a specialist classical ballet school based in London in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1988, the school is the official associate school of the English National Ballet, with many graduates becoming dancers with the company...

 and currently President of the Devon Garden Trust.

Andrew Jackson, founding partner of Stanton Marris, organisation consultants working at senior levels in strategy and leadership, with wide experience of government and the education sector.

Neil Mendoza
Neil Mendoza
-Education:Mendoza was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's and Oriel College, Oxford.-Career:In 1986 he founded Forward Publishing with William Sieghart. Forward pioneered the Custom media business in the UK. It became one of the leading independent contract publishers. Forward published magazines,...

, founder of Forward, a publishing company. Director of a variety of companies in the technology and media sectors. Served on the board of the Almeida Theatre
Almeida Theatre
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325 seat studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama and holds an annual summer festival of...

 and now on the board of the Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre is a theatre in the eponymous Soho district of the City of Westminster. It presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret....

.

Suzanna Taverne, broad non-executive and executive board experience across the private and public sector including former Managing Director of The British Museum and Pearsons Plc. Currently on the board of the Design Museum
Design Museum
Design Museum is a museum by the River Thames near Tower Bridge in central London, England. The museum covers product, industrial, graphic, fashion and architectural design. It was founded in 1989 and claims to be the first museum of modern design...

 and formerly on the board of Gingerbread.

Patrons

  • Kevin Spacey
    Kevin Spacey
    Kevin Spacey, CBE is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television...

  • Lord Puttnam
  • Dame Judi Dench
    Judi Dench
    Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...

  • Sir Tom Stoppard
    Tom Stoppard
    Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...

  • Sir Nicholas Hytner
    Nicholas Hytner
    Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner is an English film and theatre producer and director. He has been the artistic director of London's National Theatre since 2003.-Biography:...

  • Kwame Kwei-Armah
    Kwame Kwei-Armah
    Kwame Kwei-Armah, is a British actor, playwright, singer and broadcaster. In 2005 he became the second black Briton to have a play staged in the West End...

  • Cherie Booth QC
    Cherie Blair
    Cherie Blair , known professionally as Cherie Booth QC, is a British barrister working in the legal system of England and Wales. She is married to the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair; the couple have three sons and one daughter...

  • Philip Pullman
    Philip Pullman
    Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...

  • Sir Arnold Wesker
  • Jamila Gavin
    Jamila Gavin
    Jamila Gavin is a British writer born in Mussoorie, India in the foothills of the Himalayas.Her father was Indian and her mother English...

  • Jenny Agutter
    Jenny Agutter
    Jennifer Ann "Jenny" Agutter is an English film and television actress. She began her career as a child actress in the mid 1960s, starring in the BBC television series The Railway Children and the film adaptation of the same book, before moving on to adult roles and relocating to Hollywood.She...

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