Shakespeare 4 Kidz News

Our acclaimed show "Shakespeare 4 Kidz THE TEMPEST" is back on tour across the UK this spring, joining our five-star hit Hamlet musical.

Jason Lee Scott - our original Prospero - returns to the company to recreate the role of the wizardlike Duke of Milan seeking to reclaim his dukedom after twelve long years abandoned on a Mediterranean island. Paul Parris (Hamlet in S4K Hamlet) is back as the monster Caliban and his real-life wife Filipa Jeronimo is the spirit Ariel.

The show opens at the Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea on 22nd January and plays (with S4K Hamlet) throught to 15th April at the Liverpool Empire. Tour dates and performance details can be found here.

The show is ideal for those students studying the play at Key Stage 3 as it gives a completely clear understanding of the plot, themes, chracters and relationships.

As part of our FREE Teacher resources for THE TEMPEST - you can now download a pdf of the 2008 Set Scenes for the Key Stage 3 English SAT.

As in previous years, each page contains the Original Shakespeare text side-by-side with the script from the Shakespeare 4 Kidz adaptation.

Though not necessarily a direct translation, the S4K version uses a unique blend of easy-to-understand dialogue with the original Shakespeare.

This year's set scenes for The Tempest are Act III, Scene 2 and Act IV, Scene 1 (lines 139 - 162).

The pdf can be downloaded using this link.

With our new production of Shakespeare 4 Kidz THE TEMPEST about to hit the road in January, we have added to our popular FREE downloadable worksheets.

Episodes 1 to 9 are now available online to Registered Users - these can be used straight onto whiteboards in the classroom, or can be downloaded in PDF format for use as class or homework sheets.

For those studying The Tempest at Key Stage 3 we shall shortly be adding to more useful study tools: a downloadable script comparison between the S4K version and the original text version of the two sets scenes; and also a video podcast from the S4K rehearsal studio in Horsham. You will be able to see some of the actors as they put together the set scenes and hear their comments and thoughts along with those of S4K writer and director Julian Chenery.

Shakespeare 4 Kidz has today pledged its unequivocal and 100% support for the new Shakespeare Manifesto to be launched by the RSC in February 2008.

The document, which is designed to highlight best practice in the teaching of Shakespeare in junior and primary schools, contains three key elements: "Do It On Your Feet", "See It Live" and "Start It Earlier" - three fundamentals that have been at the heart of S4K's work since its inception in the mid-nineties.

The RSC has consulted teachers, students, policymakers and theatre companies - such as Shakespeare 4 Kidz, The National Theatre and The Globe - to uncover what makes Shakespeare exciting and accessible for young people of all ages, ability levels and backgrounds.