How To Get Revenge (in 4 easy recipes)!
Revenge! We all know it’s a dish best served cold. However, Year 5 at St Michael’s Junior, Chelmsford – with whom we worked in January – has taken Malvolio’s Revenge to a whole new level! I was delighted to receive in the post a package of truly amazing pieces of work off the back of our Interactive TWELFTH NIGHT Workshops, and I felt I couldn’t simply file them away. It was difficult to pick just four of the extraordinary Recipes for Revenge because they were all so good. So dip into this short video for a taste of what it’s like to be 9 or 10 with revenge on your mind….. Huge thanks to Mrs Orton and Mr Archer for sharing this incredible work with me. St Botolph’s C of E Primary, Peterborough Honestly, you go years without a doing a TWELFTH NIGHT workshop and then 9 come along at once! After the 5 that we ran in January, 4 more came along in February starting with 2 at St Botolph’s C of E Primary in Peterborough to kick off a Project Week. And revenge was still on the menu! We are lucky enough to visit this lovely school every two years, each time bringing a different Project Week for Years 5&6 to get stuck into. From the tragedy of MACBETH 2 years ago, to the craziness of TWELFTH NIGHT, this really was the sublime to the ridiculous! As always, Fay and I began the week with the Interactive Workshop. To add to your collection of potential chat up lines (see last month’s blog for more sure fire hits!) I give you: “Your eyes are like fireworks!” And if that doesn’t float your boat, hang fire, there are more coming later! Following the workshops, we launched into 3 days of rehearsals before putting it all together on Friday morning. It’s always a little fraught when all 120 actors gather in the hall for the first time. There’s the handing out of props and ensuring everyone has all that they need. And then there are the unexpected absences…..It’s really disappointing for the actors when illness strikes and, after all their work, they are unable to be in school. This time we lost two Sir Toby Belches (too much cakes and ale?). However, some brave souls stepped into the breach and took over at the eleventh hour. That’s the joy of this work, it’s not all about Shakespeare, it’s more about teamwork, focus and raising levels of confidence and self-esteem. There were some terrific performances too. From a lounging, yellow-stockinged Malvolio and a stylish, frankly frightening, Lady Olivia, to servants and sailors who were always reliable and solid, the final performance was all we could have wished for. So take another bow Years 5 & 6 and travel safely on as Shakespeare Ambassadors. Huge thanks to Mr Joyce (our in-house DJ, to whom Fay and I are indebted), plus Miss Pickard and the Friends of St Botolph’s, without whom the week would not have been possible. Shellingford Primary, Oxfordshire I was last at Shellingford Primary two years ago, so it was a delight to be invited back. This is a small rural school where the mixed classes meant I could take the whole of KS2 through TWELFTH NIGHT in two workshops last week. The school does not shy away from Shakespeare as KS1 focuses on A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM and KS2 on MACBETH. So it was great fun to introduce them to this ‘unknown’ romp! The darker side of the play – the revenge on Malvolio for spoiling Sir Toby’s party which tips over into bullying – provoked some thoughtful discussion (to be continued in class possibly). Whilst initially we all thought it was hilarious and what he deserved, on further exploration, we concluded that perhaps it was a bit much. “He only spoiled a party after all”. The trouble is that once the Revenge truck is rolling, it just keeps gathering momentum. So when Malvolio yells at the end “I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you!”, you find yourself secretly hoping that he does. With the question of how Malvolio might get his revenge ringing in their ears, one young imaginative mind suggested to me that Malvolio could murder Maria. I feel a sequel coming on – TWELFTH NIGHT 2 or perhaps THIRTEENTH NIGHT……. Finally, a couple more suggestions for your little book of useful chat up lines courtesy of Classes 3&4: “Your eyes sparkle like the sun” or “Your eyes are like pools of chocolate” (not bad eh?) Enormous thanks to Mrs Roberts and Mrs Ashdown for liaising with me – hope to see you again in another couple of years! Looking forward… Onward into March then and we are Essex-bound once more. Nick and I are heading back to Chelmsford to visit a school new to Finding the Will – St Cedd’s. We’ll be leading workshops on THE TEMPEST and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM there. Later in the month I am revisiting St Catherine of Siena Catholic Primary in Birmingham to lead Years 5&6 through A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM and MACBETH. So, a bit more revenge to play out in both locations but, as we all know, revenge makes the best drama! I’ll let you know what the Whirligig of Time brings in, next month!
5 Reasons Why Drama in Schools Should Matter
Why does drama in schools, especially Primary Schools, matter?
When you start to list the immediate benefits (never mind the long term ones), you quickly find that luxury turns into necessity.
How you chase your dream (in 1 easy lesson)
Have a listen – I dare you not smile!
Be like Mario and keep chasing your dream..
Do children really enjoy Shakespeare?
“Do children really enjoy Shakespeare?” is a question I am often asked. This month Finding the Will will be working with just over 500 children aged between 4 and 11. Judging by the gasps, laughter and forests of hands shooting up to volunteer to play characters from the 300 children we have worked with so far in June, I’d say the answer is a resounding “Yes”! Joseph Cash Primary, Coventry I began the month visiting this lovely school in Coventry. The motto here is ‘Together We Laugh, Together We Learn’. I love this! Actually, it’s pretty much the ethos of Finding the Will and our approach to Shakespeare. You might think there is little opportunity for laughter in MACBETH but you’d be wrong. When King Duncan’s favourite dish is a Big Mac provided by Macbeth himself, it’s very funny (fair enough, you might have to be there to fully appreciate this). Alongside the laughter, the children came up with some really thoughtful answers. What DOES the witches’ riddle ‘Lesser than Macbeth and greater’ actually mean? How about ‘Lesser in rank but greater in person’? Now that’s clever and one of the best answers I’ve ever heard to this conundrum, And talking of witches, what about ‘Baby’s teeth’ as an extra ingredient in the witches’ brew? Do children really enjoy Shakespeare? You bet! With thanks to Ms Nettey for inviting us in for the first time to work with Y6. Westende Junior, Wokingham Day One The next day, Nick and I set off for Wokingham and our sixth annual visit to Westende Junior. At this busy two form entry school, we work with all four year groups in KS2 (that’s 240 children) and each year does a different play. This time we began with Y6 and MACBETH. Perhaps it was something in the June air but, once again, the witches’ brew threw up some creepy, if not exactly delicious, extra ingredients: ‘3 fingers from a newborn’ and ‘koala’s liver’. No, I wouldn’t want to meet this lot on a blasted heath either…..As it was the last workshop with this particular year group (over the years they’ve done THE TEMPEST, ROMEO & JULIET and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM with us), we spoke about them moving on to secondary school as Shakespeare Ambassadors. What will they say when they meet people who say ‘Shakespeare’s so boring!’? Answer from a Y6 boy near to me “Shakespeare’s cool, not boring”. Next we worked with Y3 on A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. This was, of course, their first experience with us and, possibly, the works of Shakespeare. So how did these children enjoy it? Well if I said to you that the wedding outfits for Theseus and Hippolyta are going to be an orange cloak for Theseus and a long red dress for Hippolyta (with orange flowers in her hair), you’ll understand that they soon got really into it. Faced with Hermia’s dilemma of whether to obey or disobey her father and the law of Athens (potentially risking her life), here is one imaginative solution: “I’d become a nun, then run away from the nunnery, kidnap Lysander and poison my father” I mean it’s a whole different play – a rather wonderful spin-off! Day Two Day 2 at Westende was spent in Italy. Starting with Y4 in Verona, we entered the world of ROMEO & JULIET. More life-changing dilemmas for the children to face. Firstly the violence on the streets of Verona – how do you react? A mixture of terror and enjoyment encapsulated by one citizen, “It’s exciting but I want it to stop”. And if you were Friar Laurence, would you risk marrying Romeo to Juliet or is it simply asking for trouble? This is a tricky one. A considered answer was “No I wouldn’t do it, but then he’s my friend, so let me have some time to think about this”. We really should ask children what to do more often. Finally, we made it to Milan with Y5 and THE TEMPEST. These children did ROMEO & JULIET with us last year, so it was interesting to watch them when we asked them to stand for a Caliban versus Prospero argument. The first thing some of them did was to bite their thumbs. I mean if you take nothing else away as a long term memory, you might as well remember a good old Italian insult! Perhaps as a result of last year too, when it came to Ferdinand and Miranda falling for each other, there was far less fuss than usual. At the end, the whole company (including the Royal Table Clearer, the Royal Laundress and the Royal Body Guard) got back on board the Good Ship Bernadette of Wales to sail back to Italy. As Caliban waved goodbye on the cliff, everyone joined in with “This Island’s Mine!” to finish off two lovely days. A huge thank you to Miss Ogilvie for liaising with me to organise such a special couple of days. Conclusion So, do children really enjoy Shakespeare? Oh yeah! Why else would children come up to you after a workshop and ask “Which play are we doing next year?” In the next couple of weeks Nick and I are running solo A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM Interactive Workshops in Cheshire and Brighton respectively. Then Richard and I are heading for Lincolnshire to a fabulous school to run a Project Week on THE TEMPEST. This gorgeous little primary school has around 90 pupils and they are all going to be involved. When I say ‘all’ I mean ALL!! Reception and KS1 as well as KS2 children will each have solo lines to say. So I’ll report back on how the Reception children stole the show in a couple of weeks. For now then, lastly, but certainly not least, please welcome our newest Patron, the one and only renowned Children’s Illustrator (Winnie the Witch, Winnie and Wilbur)……kOrky Paul! We are delighted to have him on board!
2024 – How was it for you?
End of 2024 – how was it for you? I can’t believe we have reached the end of the year already, but here we are. Thank you for finding the will and wherewithal to work with us for us another incredible year.
You Create What You Will
Will has helped FINDING THE WILL encourage tens of thousands of children to create what you will over the last 17 years.
Time and again we hear from teachers that they have seen a side to a child they had not been aware of prior to our workshop.
Flaming June – well WE were cooking!
A sparky group of children with interesting ideas of how Hermia and Lysander could be together, despite the law of Athens!
You are now official Shakespeare Ambassadors!
“Naming The View was a really special night. Quality writing and performances came together and we were all invested in your every word. We haven’t stopped talking about it.”
Clowns To The Left Of Me…….
Clowns have certainly been to the Left of me this month, and Jokers to the right too! I’ve had a day of THE TEMPEST, (Trinculo being the Clown); a magnificent array of poems from Year 4 at St Miichael’s Junior, Chelmsford, (favourite line being ‘Tortured Clown In A Crown’), then a delightful Shakespearean evening with my old friend, Tweedy the Clown! Oakmeadow Primary School, Shrewsbury Shropshire is a county that has eluded FINDING THE WILL up to now. However, the day before Shakepeare’s 460th birthday, we cracked it with a visit to Oakmeadow Primary School in Shrewsbury. This is a thoroughly modern, light and bright school which invited us in to be part of a ‘Theatre Day’. All 8 classes in KS2 took part in 4 hour-long Interactive Workshops on THE TEMPEST led by Nick and me. So, 4 times on Monday we boarded The King’s Vessel, bound for Naples, each time seemingly struck by a devastating storm at sea. The 4 vessels in question were named ‘THE DYLOPHOSAURUS’; ‘THE LEVIATHAN’; ‘THE DONUT‘ and ‘THE WATERMELON UNICORN’ by Years 3-6 respectively. In our limited time, we met all the characters including Trinculo the Jester or the clown. Sadly we didn’t have time to gather new material for Trinculo as we often do, so it looks like he’ll be trotting out the Knock Knock jokes for a few more years to come! Vocabulary One thing that really struck both Nick and me was the remarkable vocabulary that some of the children (across all the classes) came out with. Words like ‘Betrayal’ and ‘reneged’ in relation to the breaking of a promise; ‘Distraught’ and ‘vexed’ regarding Caliban’s feelings about his unfair treatment. Equality and Respect are two of the values promoted by Oakmeadow Primary, so it was interesting to present a play that often demonstrates the opposite. Sometimes you only appreciate the true worth of values when they are challenged. Many thanks to Miss Gill for arranging our visit and our first foray into Shropshire! St Michael’s Junior, Chelmsford “A Tortured Clown In A Crown” Title by Hannah – Year 4, St Michael’s Junior, Chelmsford What a thrill to receive a veritable anthology of Lyric Poems from Year 4 at St Michael’s Junior inspired by our recent MACBETH Interactive Workshops. The poems are all amazing and so it was incredibly hard to pick a handful to share with you. To celebrate Shakespeare’s 460th birthday, here goes – I think he would have been impressed! Thank you Mrs Orton for sharing this impressive work with us! Clowns and Shakespeare If you have ever had the joy of watching Tweedy the Clown at work, either in the circus (notably Gifford’s) or in pantomime (Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham in recent years), you will know what a phenomenal talent he is. When I heard he was cast as Bottom in the Everyman Theatre’s production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, it seemed like a match made in heaven. A clown playing a clown! Personally I have performed in The Dream more times than I can remember (playing nearly every character except Helena, the tall one!). I’ve seen some ropy productions and some average ones, but Tweedy playing Bottom the Weaver, now this was intriguing. And he was superb! His comic timing and clowning skills were off the chart, but that wasn’t a surprise. His handling of the original Shakespearean text however…….now that was a revelation! Indeed the whole production was a delight from start to finish – a laugh out loud comedy, just as it was meant to be when it was written, 430 years ago. Tweedy will shortly be touring his own show Tweedy’s Massive Circus throughout the summer. It opens on 24 May at……..drum roll………The Royal Shakespeare Company. Fancy, a Clown at the RSC! It just goes to prove that clowns really can speak truth to power! And Finally….. FINDING THE WILL is thrilled to have two new actors joining our talented pool of practitioners – Izzy Kersley and Karen Payne. I’ll introduce them to you properly next month, suffice to say they are definitely not clowns! ‘Til next time……
Magic in Muscat!
Magic was all around The Royal Opera House, Muscat at the beginning of February! Exploring Shakespeare FINDING THE WILL was thrilled to be given the opportunity to be part of the Play Your Dream – Exploring Shakespeare Project at the The Royal Opera House, Muscat earlier this month. Whilst we are known for weaving our magic nationally here in the UK, it was a huge thrill to be asked to share our work internationally. At the end of December we were approached to run workshops for children on A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM in the run up to performances of Benjamin Britten’s opera. What an honour! Just look where we finished up! The Magic of the Interactive Workshops Here at FINDING THE WILL we have always strived to increase the confidence and self-esteem of the children we work with. We weren’t sure what to expect when we set off on the first morning in Oman. Would the children we were to meet be shy? Scared of speaking up? Unable to understand us? Would they follow the story? Would they want to take part? We needn’t have worried! Both Richard and I were amazed by the confidence, vocabulary, enthusiasm and general joie de vivre of all of the children we met. In total we worked with approximately 200 children over the three days. They ranged in age from 6 – 12 and were from a variety of backgrounds. One workshop was purely for children who were home-schooled. With only 5 children taking part in this one, we roped in their mums to play Oberon, Titania and Puck, whilst Richard and I covered Theseus, Hippolyta and Egeus. In all honesty, the adults in the room (Teachers, parents, Opera House staff), in every workshop we ran, were as engaged as the children. Completely drawn into the magic of the story! The most unusual Stage Door we have ever had the privilege of walking through! What an incredible building! Magic moments There were many magic moments throughout the three days but there are a couple that stand out for me. Firstly, this gem of a moment: Richard: ” What would you say to your friend Bottom, if he suddenly appeared with a donkey’s head on?” Answer: “Get him to a doctor! Take him to a laboratory!” As always with FINDING THE WILL, there is never a wrong answer, just an interesting idea. The second moment that I will carry with me is the sound of raucous laughter. the pure joy of 40 children following a story (in a second language don’t forget), and relishing every twist and turn along the way. Whether it’s the magic of Shakespeare, the magic of our storytelling, or a combination of both, that sound – pure hilarity – is priceless. Heading home Our brief but oh so fulfilling visit came to an end on 8th February. There are whispers of us returning in April 2025 and Richard and I would be delighted if that happens. The country of Oman is fascinating, the people we met (both inside and outside of the Opera House) were warm and friendly. It feels like there is much more we can share with each other, so we really hope that this is not the last that the Royal Opera House, Muscat sees of us, or we see of it! Tempest Magic! Meanwhile, back here in the UK, Nick spent a couple of days in Bristol with Year 3 at Whitehall Primary. The magic of THE TEMPEST was the draw here. I understand there was a memorably enthusiastic dancing Prospero, a couple of really great Calibans and a swell of excitement for the forthcoming ‘Shakespeare Show’. That’s what we like to hear, the magic of Shakespeare continuing to spread! Thanks to Ms Tovey for liaising with me to arrange the visit this year. The magic of March! Coming up we have a busy month ahead. Nick and I are heading to Chelmsford (St Michael’s Junior School) and to Surrey (St Dominic’s Special Education School) with MACBETH and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM respectively. Then I am returning to St Catherine’s of Siena Primary in Birmingham, followed by Shellingford Primary in Oxfordshire with THE DREAM and MACBETH respectively. So I’ll be back at the end of next month with more tales of Macbeth mayhem and Midsummer magic. Until then, shukran liqarayatik
Mediterranean, Mermaids and Michael Rosen
In the afternoon we travelled on to Greece for an introduction to A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.
There’s something magical about hearing a child speak Puck’s words at the end of the play.
Standing on a stage and speaking out loud to over 150 adults, is a pretty daunting task, especially when you are only 8 or 9.