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!
4 Amazing Ways to get through January!
So that’s how we got through long January. 4 different plays, 12 workshops, 1 Project Week and just over 400 young people. Not a bad start to the year eh?
1770 children love Shakespeare – true or false?
This year Finding the Will has worked with 1770 children introducing them to five of Shakespeare’s best known plays.
Bet you’ve never had a welcome like this!
“Welcome to my office.” These were the words that greeted me when I fell out of a plane at 15000ft!
“We’ll strive to please you” – and guess what?!
At the end of the day, rehearsing a production of TWELFTH NIGHT in 3.5 days is a big ask. Asking 90 eight and nine year olds to do it is an even bigger ask.
Happy Summer Holidays!
A quick count up shows that during the last 10 months we’ve worked with approximately 1000 children ranging in age from 4 – 16.
We’ve covered the country from Merthyr Tydfil to Peterborough, Southampton to Yorkshire and all sorts of places in between!
FINDING THE WILL in Wales
the special guest was Michael Rosen (our Patron), so it was fitting that we were there too.
The big voices were still big, the little voices were a little louder but the church holds 800 people! Again, Mr Shakespeare (who was 459 of course last Sunday) has helped children from 7- 15 to come out of their shells.
Merry Christmas from the FTW Family!
Merry Christmas! As the temperature outside plummets, I’m sitting here (wearing 4 layers) and hoping that you are all warm, safe and, somehow, surviving. It’s been a funny old year for FINDING THE WILL, We’ve worked in a mixture of old and new schools countrywide. Our performing work has been seen on screens in the UK and Ukraine, and live on stage in Canada and in the South West of England. Whilst the academic year 22/23 has got off to an inevitably slow start, thanks to the cost of living crisis in all walks of life, we remain optimistic for the coming year. We finished 2022 with a cracking morning at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Hornchurch – read about it in our last blog. Now, with the Christmas holidays in touching distance, we are looking forward to the new year. 2023 We’ll be back with a bang in January at one of our old favourites – Great Leighs Primary School, Essex. Nick and I will spend a week with KS2 working on A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. In previous years we’ve tackled Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night and Hamlet, so this magical mayhem of a comedy promises to be great fun. And at Great Leighs everyone, even the Kitchen, gets completely involved! Following on we will revisit Whitehall Primary, Bristol for more of THE TEMPEST with Year 3, Castleview Primary, Slough for more of MACBETH and St Catherine of Siena, Lee Bank, Birmingham for both A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM and MACBETH. In April, we are thrilled to be part of the Merthyr Tydfil Children’s Literature Festival providing, amidst other things, MACBETH Interactive Workshops in Welsh! Catch us on screen! If you find yourself at a loose end over the Christmas holidays, or just feel like watching something a little different, can I encourage you to go to www.scenesaver.co.uk. Here, you will find all kinds of theatre productions – Christmas shows, children’s shows, drama, dance, comedy – which you can enjoy free of charge. You can make a donation, which will go directly to the production company if you wish, but there is no obligation. Type in NAMING THE VIEW and you will find our Arts Council England funded film which is available also in BSL, Signed or Audio Described versions. Scenesaver is a wonderful resource and, for us, is a direct result of working with ProEnglish Theatre’s ProAct Fest in Ukraine in the summer of 2022. Thanks Huge thanks to Jack, the talented artist who, unbeknownst to him, designed our Christmas card this year! Jack is 9 (maybe 10 now, not sure, sorry Jack!) and worked with us at BARKSTON & SYSTON CE PRIMARY near Grantham in June this year. We’d also like to thank all the Schools, Teachers, Head Teachers, Teaching Assistants, Support Staff, Office Staff, Governors, Parents, Patrons and, of course, Children that we have worked with and been in contact with throughout this year. It’s been tough, it will undoubtedly get tougher, but we cling on and, together, we will get through it! So all that’s left to say is: MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM JULES AND THE FINDING THE WILL FAMILY!
End Of Term Report!
During the academic year 2021/22 we have worked in 15 Primary Schools and 3 Special Schools with approximately 1450 young people.
A HUGE End of Term Thank You then to all the schools we have worked with this year.
Our wonderful co-founder and director Richard Curnow is heading to the Edmonton Fringe, Canada