This year Finding the Will has worked with 1770 children introducing them to five of Shakespeare’s best known plays. We’ve led 34 workshops and 3 Project Weeks on A Midsummer Night’s Dream; The Tempest; Macbeth; Romeo & Juliet and Twelfth Night. And whilst we can’t say categorically that all 1770 children fell in love with Shakespeare, we can say that every one of them had an experience that they weren’t expecting!
The Tempest – 500 children
Nick finished off the Finding the Will year with a workshop on The Tempest for Y5 at King Henry VIII School in Coventry. They all set sail on the ‘Boulder Destroyer Bed Ship’ which was made of wood with blue sails. I understand that it carried purple cannons that fired orange cannon balls (see what I mean about expect the unexpected?)! And Trinculo the jester had the best material of 2025 – brace yourself, this is a cracker!
“What did Harry Potter say when he couldn’t afford to fill up his car?…..Expensive Petroleum!”
Whilst you pick yourself up off the floor and recover, I’ll just send thanks to Miss Brown for inviting us back for a second year. We hope to see you again.
Prior to Coventry, the seas rose up and sank many a ship in Lincolnshire, Manchester, Berkshire and Cambridgeshire.
Macbeth – 420 children
We started the year at Great Leighs Primary in Essex with a Project Week on Macbeth. This was a golden week in every sense, read here and you’ll see what I mean. After that, the Weird Sisters turned up in Manchester, Wokingham and Coventry. To date, their next scheduled appearance is in Ealing in the early summer……unless you know different…..
Romeo & Juliet – 400 children
150 children had their first encounter with Romeo & Juliet at the SJC Federation in Manchester back in March – over the course of 4 days, 600 children here experienced 4 different plays with us. You can read all about this here. From Manchester, the star-crossed lovers then showed up again in Wokingham, Rochester and Enfield. They are quite a popular couple in 2026 already, with Project Weeks booked in Essex and Lincolnshire in January and June.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – 360 children
The magic of The Dream began again in Manchester back in March. Over the next four months, Puck put a girdle around Berkshire, Cheshire and Sussex and, inevitably, Bottom created mayhem to much laughter along the way. You can read about the giggles and see photos here.
Twelfth Night – 90 children
Finally, Twelfth Night for us in 2025 came in May, when we made a sixth annual visit to Montpelier Primary in Ealing. Here we work only with Y4 each year. It’s an immense privilege to guide and encourage ninety 8 and 9 year olds to stand on a stage, speak some original Shakespeare text and, at the end of the week, walk taller out of the school gate. We are delighted to be returning to Montpelier next May with something a little darker…..
And finally…..
During 2025, the eighteenth year of Finding the Will, we sadly lost one of our longest serving Patrons, Lord Blair of Boughton. Thanks to his surviving wife (another of our Patrons) Lady Blair, we swiftly gained a new Patron in the form of kOrky Paul. He has yet to see us in action but we can’t wait for him to have that opportunity, so that he can fully embrace the joy we feel when helping children to find their voice.
Regarding the original question of whether it’s true or false that 1770 children love Shakespeare, I say dip into our previous blogs and make up your own mind! And if you’ll allow me a small indulgence, I’ll remind you of the words of actor Rosie Boother, who was in a Macbeth workshop with us fourteen years ago aged 11, because this is why we do what we do. End of story.
I cannot begin to thank you enough for the immensely important work that you do. It changes lives, moulds hearts and empowers children in ways that transcend words. It was your kindness, joy and wisdom that has stayed with me all these years and truly changed my life.
Only one thing remains then. We wish you all a peaceful, restful, relaxing Christmas and we look forward to lots more fun with you all in 2026.
Images: Jules doing a Charity Skydive for the Wessex MS Therapy Centre in July 2025 and the amazing prop Box Hedge for Twelfth Night at Montpelier Primary School, Ealing in May 2025.