Shakespeare 4 Kidz

Past �
The Shakespeare 4 Kidz (S4K) project began in 1996 when Julian Chenery, the chief executive, director and co-writer of S4K productions, staged his two-hour version of A Midsummer Night�s Dream, aimed specifi cally at engaging young people with Shakespeare�s work. When finding a way to get primaryage children to engage with Shakespeare, language is always a huge barrier. Chenery believes that if you can fi nd a way to simplify the language, without undermining the content of Shakespeare�s words, you can lower the age of access, so his versions of the bard�s work fuse well-known Shakesperean quotes with modern language, music, songs and dance, while maintaining the main characters and thrust of the plot.

Chenery says that �the key is to keep the essence of the play, while maintaining pace, so 30-line monologues need to be replaced with action.� The songs in Chenery�s versions of Shakespeare�s plays are close to musical theatre in style. As far as knowing where it is appropriate to insert a song in the plays, Chenery believes that �it is fairly easy to spot where the action could be framed with song, such as at the beginning and ends of acts, or when the internal monologues of characters could be glossed with music to heighten drama.�

The task of adapting Shakespeare�s words is not always an easy one. When approaching the complexity of a work like Hamlet, Chenery ensures that he �comes at the plays not as an academic but an audience member, teasing out the storyline, characters and an awareness of context. Hamlet was both the biggest challenge and the biggest success as I think we achieved clarity, an authentic rendering of character, dramatised the internal lives of the characters and engaged audiences along the way.�

Soon after putting on the Dream, S4K grew to tour round school audiences and the education arm of the company was set up, setting up workshops for schools and publishing resources enabling schools to perform Shakespeare 4 Kidz shows all over the world.

Present �
Currently, S4K are touring their unique production of Macbeth, which opened at the Palace Theatre in Mansfi eld and toured around the UK, reopening for a month in January and then going on an international tour in the Spring in the Gulf area, India, Singapore and the US. The show has been well received since it began touring in 2000 and this year is no exception � as Julian Chenery says, �the show always receives a good response from primary, junior, lower secondary and family audiences. The boys particularly like the fi ghting scenes, and the girls like the witches.� It�s a jam-packed tour for the S4K actors, as they are doing around 10 shows a week, including morning and afternoon matinees, but the 20-strong touring company are not phased by the challenge.

Chenery explains: �The cast is a well-oiled machine. Of course, on an international tour like this you experience diffi culties, but any glitches have been ironed out over the years.� The cast of the play changes annually, with roughly half the cast remaining the same. Jason Lee Scott plays Macbeth, revisiting the role for the third time; Chenery credits Lee Scott with being able to play the role to audiences of mixed ages �without being patronising or belittling them�. Chenery believes that the key to actors playing to such a broad audience is �a combination of good physical theatre skills, good communication style, a good singing voice and well-executed humour�.

This musical version of Macbeth is supported by workshops for schools, including their new play in a day Mini-Macbeth workshop. The workshop was pioneered at Wray Common Primary School in Reigate, Surrey and accommodates up to 80 children. In the all-day workshop aimed at upper-primary, lower-secondary level, different groups take on different acts of the play and come together at the end of the day for a fi nal performance in front of family and friends.

The workshop aims to put fun into Macbeth by learning S4K songs and helping students understand the language of Shakespeare�s plays, so that through learning in a practical way, the plays become accessible. S4K offer a range of workshops for different age groups and ability levels to support the other plays in the S4K repertoire and are willing to tailor a workshop according to the particular needs of the school. They also provide a wide range of teachers� resources to complement their plays, including quizzes, plot summaries and comprehension sheets. They�re available free on the S4K website (see below) when you register.

Another interesting development in S4K�s educational work is their accreditation as a learning destination for the Children�s University in a venture supported by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. Young people can earn a stamp for their Children�s University learning passport by participating in S4K�s Spellbinding Shakespeare module � they can do this in a number of ways, including joining in on hour-long activities such as seeing live theatre, attending a workshop or writing of review of a play, and work towards earning their Bronze Award when they complete 15 hours of modules through the Children�s University.

Future �
Next year the company will be reprising their production of A Midsummer Night�s Dream, the play with which the whole project began.
To fi nd out more about Shakespeare4Kidz, visit their website at www.shakespeare4kidz.com

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A PDF OF THE FEATURE ARTICLE FROM TEACHING DRAMA MAGAZINE

What they say about us:
S4K HAMLET: "Paul Parris, a Hamlet who the kids can instantly relate to."