Shakespeare Schools Festival South Africa is bringing the Bard to the schools of Grahamstown in a project that provides a powerful platform for language learning, capacity building and confidence development.
Shakespeare Schools Festival South Africa is bringing the Bard to the schools of Grahamstown in a project that provides a powerful platform for language learning, capacity building and confidence development.
Four schools will be performing 30-minute abridged plays at the Rhodes Theatre on Friday 28 August.
Audiences can look forward to a night of comedy, star-crossed lovers and ambitious scotsmen, with Ntsika taking on their matric setwork Macbeth, PJ Olivier performing Romeo and Juliet, Graeme College tackling Twelfth Night and VGHS performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The Shakespeare Schools Festival South Africa was initiated by NPO Educape with the aim of providing a vibrant educational experience with equal access to all.
The festival has reached more than 1 000 high school pupils and teachers in the Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal and invites the citizens of Grahamstown to support the launch of its Eastern Cape branch.
The festival has been co-ordinated in the Eastern Cape with the enthusiastic participation of the Shakespeare Society and the generous support of the Grahamstown Foundation, Rhodes Drama Department and Rhodes Community Engagement.
Rhodes student volunteers and Shakespeare Society veterans have hosted read-throughs, rehearsals and performance workshops with schools with the aim of building pupils’ literacy and language confidence, and inspiring them with a passion for the power of Shakespeare.
Students who started off struggling with the troublesome texts have transformed before the volunteers' eyes into confident young stars soliloquising on stage.
Months of preparation will culminate in a performance on 28 August from 6pm to 9pm at the Rhodes Theatre, where many pupils will experience the magic of live theatre, audience and lighting for the first time.
The festival was established in the United Kingdom but the programme has been adapted to meet local needs.
“We’re hoping to support school syllabi, rather than to burden teachers with another extramural commitment.
We’re capacitating the schools involved, setting up drama groups and helping with school setworks, making Shakespeare performance into a relevant and exciting learning process,” says Emma de Wet, co-ordinator for the Eastern Cape Shakespeare Schools Festival.
Admittance is free for pupils in uniform, and R30 for adults.
Tickets are available from the Rhodes Drama Department theatre admin office (email: k.gabashane@ru.ac.za, phone: 046 603 8542) and from Box Office on the night.
The performance starts at 6pm sharp, so audience members are invited to arrive from 5.30pm.
