William Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ was the play this year; which follows the love story between Rosalind and Orlando, who have been forced into exile in the Forest of Arden. 

As is characteristic of Shakespeare’s work, the script was teeming with humour, mistaken identity, unrequited love and disguise, which was delivered brilliantly by the GSP’s young thespians. There were four performances of the play across the two days of the festival, with pupils from each school delivering their scenes in front of their peers and families, with amazing confidence and obvious enjoyment. 

The GSP’s collaborative productions of Shakespeare have provided a comprehensive and inclusive framework for introducing pupils to some of the works of Shakespeare; either as part of their curriculum, or extra to the curriculum, as an after school club.   This year, the Shakespeare Leaders visited the RSC in Stratford as part of their own CPD, studying the intricacies of Shakespearean language, voice projection and stage presence; skills that they took back and shared with their pupils.

The 2018 Shakespeare Festival was made successful by the dedication of the fantastic Shakespeare Leaders in each of our participating schools. Thank you to Garth Prince, who led the whole production and has brought great passion and experience to the meetings.  Thanks are also extended to the pupils who participated in this event – they all gave a fabulous performance.