600 children in Manchester have fallen in love with Shakespeare. And another 170 in Peterborough have also got the bug. What’s going on? Well, during March, Finding the Will worked with 770 young people on four different Shakespeare plays – and they went down a tempest (see what we did there?)! It all began at St John Chrysostom Federation in Manchester.
During the course of five days, we led 10 workshops, worked with 600 children aged 7-11, from 3 Manchester schools, on 4 different plays: The Tempest; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth and Romeo & Juliet. The first four days were spent at St John’s CofE Primary in Longsight, Manchester, with St Chrysostom’s CofE Primary, walking down the road to join us every morning. On Friday we moved on to the CofE School of Resurrection also in Manchester.
Manchester Day 1 – The Tempest (Y4)
Monday. We began the week with 60 children from St Chrysostom’s Y4. On board the Good Ship Shakespeare (a marvellous tongue twister to start the week – thanks kids!), we set sail for Prospero’s Island. In the afternoon the 60 strong crew from St John’s were aboard the Good Ship Majestic Creature with a snake as a figurehead. As so often happens on these voyages, Trinculo, the jester, was a bit short of good material. He was ably supported by both crews with the following:
Why did the chicken cross the road?
To get to KFC!
(A cracker I’m sure you’ll agree)
Why did the skeleton not go up the mountain?
Because he had no guts!
(I defy you not to smile at that one)
Jokes aside, at the end of the day, all 120 participants came to the same conclusion. Forgiveness might be rarer, but it is infinitely better than revenge.
Manchester Day 2 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Y3)
On Tuesday we welcomed another 120 children to Greece, to explore the magical forest and the market square in Athens. There were some interesting answers from 7/8 year olds when faced with Hermia’s early dilemma:
Would you obey your father (not to mention the law of Athens), marry the man you don’t love and be unhappy, or disobey your father (and the law of Athens), risk your life but be happy for what is left of it?
“I would do what my dad says because if I was dead, I couldn’t marry anyone.”
(I mean you can’t fault the logic)
“I would marry the one I don’t like, kill him and marry the other one”
(This is a whole other play)
Ultimately the magic of the forest and the mischievous fairies had the desired effect. With gasps and laughter we watched Puck muck it up and delighted in him when he finally got it right.
Manchester Day 3 – Macbeth (Y5)
Wednesday, the hump of the week, saw us in Scotland with 60 witches in the morning and 60 more in the afternoon. As well as witches of course, they were the armies of Macbeth and Malcolm/Macduff, the servants at Castle Glamis and the VIP guests at the coronation banquet. For the King’s special feast at Glamis Castle, there was an array of ‘Scottish’ food, much emanating from that well known Lord MacDonald, Thane of Global and the equally royal Burger King:
“68 Big Macs”
(Very specific)
“100 Double Whoppers”
(So that’s 200 burgers by my calculation)
“French fries and chicken nuggets”
(Well, might as well go for broke)
“Italian Tiramisu”
(At last, a bit of class!)
Macduff’s final secret revelation ensured the usual response of “What???” and then, with a rousing cheer Macbeth, the tyrant King, was once again defeated (apologies if that’s a spoiler for anyone).
Manchester Day 4 – Romeo & Juliet (Y6)
Thursday was our last day at St John’s and we headed back to Italy, specifically to Verona. As always, the Capulets and the Montagues were at each other’s throats, and Romeo fell for Juliet in double quick time. This is a play with some very adult themes so it was lovely to have some seriously strong performances in the morning and, equally, some interesting gender-blind casting in the afternoon. Both workshops threw up some lovely surprises including quote of the week from St Chrysostom’s Lord Capulet:
“Shakespeare’s not boring!”
(Our work here is done)
FINDING THE WILL’s raison d’être is to show that Shakespeare is as relevant today as it was 400 years ago, so to hear that from a young man in Y6 just setting out on the next chapter of his life, was really heartening.
Manchester Day 5 – The Dream (Y3/4);
And so to Friday, a new venue, the third school in this Manchester Federation – The School of Resurrection, a final 120 children and 2 different plays!
Firstly we went back to Greece and the magical forest with Y3/4 and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, listening to the collective intake of breath when Puck puts the juice in the wrong man’s eyes is joyous. And the laughter when Titania wakes up and falls in love with a half man, half donkey would cheer anyone up on a rough day! Hermia’s dilemma proved a thorny issue once again, but was carefully articulated by one young lady who said:
“If I was Hermia, I would follow my heart.”
(And so say all of us)
For our penultimate workshop, both Nick and I thought this one really was a ‘Dream’!
Manchester Day 5 – Macbeth (Y5/6)
In the afternoon, we headed back to the bleak Scottish heath for another meeting with the witches and Macbeth. The three witches who gave Macbeth and Banquo the news that would shape both their futures certainly put some effort into their witchy voices and cackles. Macbeth and ambitious Lady Macbeth were really taken in. And talking of ambition – as we did – we can all breathe a sigh of relief because there are a lot of potential doctors and surgeons in Y6 here (as well as an astrophysicist, an architect and many a footballer).
What does it mean to be ambitious?
“You’re violent”
(Were they were thinking of Putin?)
“You’re determined”
(Spot on!)
“You have a goal”
(Couldn’t have put it better myself)
And so the Manchester week drew to a close with cries of ‘All hail Malcolm, King of Scotland‘ ringing in our ears – oh dear, another spoiler, sorry!
I won’t lie, it was a really tiring week. It takes a lot of energy to keep 60 children at a time entertained and informed for two hours straight. So I’m massively grateful to my fellow practitioner Nick, a veritable ball of energy who, like me, was just a little punctured by the end of the week! And thanks also to Miss Allsopp, Mr Cresswell and Mrs Glyn for organising the whole week. Manchester, you did us proud!
The Deepings School, Peterborough
And it’s not only the children from Manchester who grew to love Shakespeaere. From Manchester, we moved on to Peterborough. At The Deepings we had a lovely morning working with Y7 on The Tempest. Secondary School timetables meant our normal 2 hour workshop had to be adapted to 65 minutes, but this did not impede the fun in any way. We ran three workshops in all and witnessed some extraordinary performances, well thought out answers and, happily, an appetite to find out more.
We sailed on board The Good Ships ‘Prospero’s Journey’; ‘Big Dorito’ and ‘Rusty Betty’. And Trinculo’s jokes improved with each voyage – my personal favourite being:
Q: What has 4 wheels and flies?
A: A bin lorry
(now that’s clever!)
All three groups of students also managed to relate this 400 year old play to the world we live in today. The situation of Prospero taking over the island and treating Caliban like a slave was swiftly likened to Russia and Ukraine. The invasion of wealth and power to a land that clearly belonged to someone else was unanimously frowned upon.
Cliffhanger
Because of the time limitation, we had to leave the workshop at the point where Prospero is making his big decision – get revenge on his enemies or forgive them. It was music to our ears, therefore, to hear from two students:
“I want to read the rest of it, find out what happens.”
“I love Shakespeare.”
Huge thanks to Ms Brown for inviting us in, we hope we can return.
And Finally….
Here’s to Manchester and Peterborough then. Four schools, four plays, five year groups, 13 workshops and 770 young people aged 7-12 in one month – what a fantastic job we have! Easter holidays coming up so plenty of time to recuperate before the summer term revs up. And for Finding the Will, a new website and a new look! Happy Easter Break everyone!